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I 




THE MINING LAWS 


— OF THE — 

STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

1849 to 1 897 

— BY — 


FREDERIC HALL 

u 

- AUTHOR OF - 

“H all’s M exican Law.” 


FIRST EDITION. 


Price, 25^Cents. 



J. BELL, PUBLISHER, 
Los Angeles, Cal. 

1 897. 






ASSAYERS’, CHEMISTS’ 

AND MINERS’ SUPPLIES. 




CRUCIBLES, SCORIF/ERS, 
CUPELS, MUFFLES, 
FURNACES, ETC. 


FINE BALANCES 

C. P. CYANIDE POTASH (98-99%) 

AND A FULL LINE OF 

PURE CHEMICALS. 


Outfits for Prospectors and Assayers. 

F. W. BRAUN & CO. 

401 to 407 North Main St., LOS ANGELES, CAL- 

F. D. LANTERMAN_^> 

Civil and Mining Engineer 

United States Deputy Mineral Surveyor. 



Locations, and Patent Surveys legally made. 

Mines and Mining Properties examined and reported upon. 

. ‘ . ROOM 4, PHILLIPS BLOCK, 

* 

*■ « 

SPRING STREET, 

LOS ANGELES, CAL. 

member of the Telephone Main 354. 

Los Angeles flining and Stock Exchange. 






















































































CONTENTS 


PAGE. 

Chap, cxxviii. An Act concerning corpora¬ 


tions. Passed April 22, 1850.7 

Chap. lxv. Chapter 5. Repealed April 

14, 1853 .10 

Chap. lxv. An Act to Provide for the 
formation of corporations for certain 

purposes. Passed April 14, 1853.10 

Chap. cxix. An Act to protect owners 
of growing crops, &c., in Mining 

Districts. Passed April 25, 1855.13 

Chap. xcix. Amended April 30, 1855_13 

Chap. cx. Amended March 27, 1857.14 

Chap, clxxxi. Amended April 10, 1858..14 
Chap, xcviii. Amended March 7, 1859...15 
Chap, ccxii. An Act to provide for the 
conveyance of mining claims. Passed 
April 13, 1860 .15 


Chap. li. An Act in reference to cor¬ 
porations organized in this State for 
the purpose of mining out of this 
Chap, lxxvi. An Act to authorize min¬ 
ing companies to change their prin¬ 
cipal place of business. Passed Feby. 

15, 1864.16 

State. Passed March 5, 1861.16 

Chap, lxxxix. Repealing Sec. 2. Passed 

March 26, 1863.16 

Chap. cdlx. Amended April 27, 1863.16 

Chap. xci. An Act supplementary to 
the Act entitled an Act to amend An 
Act defining the time for commencing 
Civil Actions. Passed Feby. 18, 1864...17 


Chap, cliii. Amended March 5, 1864.17 

Chap, ccclxxix. An Act to authorize 
mining corporations to establish 
Transfer Agencies in other States. 

Passed April 4, 1864.17 

Chap, cdxvi. An Act supplementary 
to an Act entitled an Act to provide 
Revenue for this State. Passed 

April 4, 1S64.18 

Chap, cccxvii. An Act to provide for 
the Summary sale of mines belong¬ 
ing to the estates of deceased per¬ 
sons. Passed March 22, 1866.18 

Chap. dc. An Act entitled an Act con¬ 
cerning partnership for mining pur¬ 
poses. Passed April 2, 1866.18 

Chap, cxciv. An Act granting the min¬ 
ing counties the foreign miners’ tax. 
Passed March 16, 1868.20 


Chap, cxxxviii. Amended March 4, 1870..20 


PAGE. 


Chap, ccliv. Amended March 24, 1870_21 

Chap. cdiv. An Act to regulate the 
rights of the owners of mines. Passed 
April 1, 1870.21 

Chap. cccv. An Act for the protection 
of miners. Passed March 16, 1872.22 

Chap, cccxxxiv. Amended March 21, 
1872.23 

Chap, ccclxix. Amended March 23, 1872..24 

Chap, cdxcviii. An Act for the protec¬ 
tion of coal mines and coal miners. 
Passed March 27, 1874.24 

Chap, dxxxi. An Act regulating the 
sale of mineral lands belonging to the 
State. Passed March 28, 1874.25 

Chap, dcxxvii. An Act for the better 
protection of stockholders in mining 
corporations. Passed March 30, 1874...26 

Chap. xlv. Amended Feby. 3, 1876.27 


Chap, cdlxxxix. Amended April 1, 1876..27 
Chap, dlxii. An Act to regulate the 
recording of mining locations in Cal¬ 
averas County. Passed April 3, 1876...28 
Chap, cdlxxxi. An Act creating a 
Board of Bank Commissioners. Passed 
March 30, 1878.28 

Chap, cxvii. An Act to promote drain¬ 
age. Passed March 23, 1880.28 

Chap, xxxvii. Amended April 6, 1880_29 


Chap. cxxi. Amended April 23, 1880.29 

Chap, cxviii. An Act for the further 
protection of stockholders in mining 

companies. Passed April 23, 1880.30 

Chap. liii. An Act to amend the Po¬ 
litical Code by adding a new section 
to be known as Section 3608. Passed 

March 7, 1881.30 

Chap, lxxii. An Act to provide a State 
Hospital and Asylum for Miners. 

Passed March 14, 1881.31 

Chap, xxxviii. An Act to provide for 
analyzing the minerals, &c., of the 

State. Passed March 9, 1885.31 

Chap. civ. An Act relating to the 
working, rights of way, &c., of mines, 

Passed March 31, 1891.32 

Chap, lxxiv. An Act to establish a 
uniform system of mine bell signals, 

&c. Passed March 8, 1893.33 


































G 


PAGE. 

Chap, ccxxiii. An Act to amend an 
Act entitled “An Act to establish a 


Civil Code concerning Hydraulic 

Mining. Passed March 24, 1893.34 

Chap. xxi. Joint resolution No. 12, 
relating to mines in Yosemite Na¬ 
tional Park. Adopted March 16, 1895..34 

Chap. xli. Amended Feby. 26, 1897.34 

Chap. Ixxvii. An Act to amend Sec. 
1238 of the C. C. P., concerning the 
right of eminent domain. Passed 

March 4, 1897. 35 

Chap. xcii. Amended March 9, 1897.35 

Chap. xciv. An Act to amend Sec. 1159 
of an Act entitled “An Act to estab¬ 
lish a Civil Code.” Passed March 

9, 1897 .36 

Chap, cxiii. An Act to amend an Act 
entitled, An Act to provide for the ap¬ 
pointment, etc., of a Debris Commis¬ 
sioner, &c. Passed March 17, 1897.36 


Chap. clix. An Act prescribing the 
manner of locating mining claims up¬ 
on the public domain of the U. S., 

&c. Passed March 27, 1897.38 

Chap, clxxx. An Act to repeal an Act 
entitled, “An Act imposing a tax on 
the issue of certificates of stock cor¬ 
porations. Passed March 31, 1897.39 

Chap, cclxx. Repealing, April 1, 1897—39 


COURT DECISIONS. 


Abandonment .42 

Annual Work .41 

Boundaries .41 

Boundaries — Lines .40 

Boundaries — Notices'.40 

Citizenship .41 

Description .40 

Divergence of end line.40 

Excessive Location .41 


PAGE. 

Location .. 

Location and Boundaries . 40 

Location and Boundaries .42 

Minors—May Make Locations.41 

Notices — Recording . 43 

Notices — Recording of .40 

Partition of Mining Right.41 

Placer Mines . 40 

Possession . 42 

Possession — Right of .41 

Recording notice . 42 

Relocation — Performance .40 

Relocation — Resumption .40 

Sales — Transfer. 41 

Sales — Conveyance .42 

Townsites . 42 

Townsites—Mining Claim .41 

Townsites —City Lots .41 

Townsite Patent .41 

Trusts — Void .42 

Tunnels .41 

Work Annual .41 


EXTRACTS FROM THE CODES 
Consolidation of Mining Corporations.. .43 

Mining Corporations. 43 

Removal of Place of Business. 43, 

Transfer Ageniices.43 

Stock Issued at Transfer Agencies_43 

Fixtures Attached to Mines.43 

Mining Claims, Action Governed by 

Local Rules. 43 

Hydraulic Mining. 44 

Summary Sales of Mines. 44 

Mining Partnerships. 44 

Mortgage of Personal Property.45 

Opinion of the Attorney-General on the 

New Location Law. 45 

The New Mining Law—Opinion of J. F. 

Cowdrey . 46 

Mineral Productions of California for 
1896 . 46 


The Office Supply Company. 

•J. E3 EIL_L_, Proprietor. 

MINING BLANKS of all kinds. Including Directors’ Monthly 

_- Reports, Superintendents’ Monthly Reports, 

Monthly Pay Rolls, Etc. Seals, Stock Certificates, and Blank Books of all kinds 
to Order. All kinds of Printing to Order. 

ORDERS BY MAIL RECEIVE PROMPT ATTENTION. — 


R. O. Box A2A. 


l-OS ANG 


, CAL. 


























































THE MINING LAWS OF 
THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. 


CHAPTER CXXVIII. 

An Act Concerning Corporations. 

[Passed April 22, 1850.] 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in Senate and As¬ 
sembly, do enact as follows: 

CHAPTER 5 

Companies for Manufacturing, Mining, 
Mechanical, or Chemical Purposes. 

At any time hereafter, any three or 
more persons, who may desire to form 
a company for the purpose of carrying on 
any kind of manufacturing, mining, me¬ 
chanical, or chemical business, may 
make, sign, and acknowledge, before 
some officer competent to take the ac¬ 
knowledgment of deeds,and file in the af- 
fice of the Clerk of the County in which 
the business of the company shall be car¬ 
ried on, and a duplicate thereof in the of¬ 
fice of the Secretary if State, a certifi¬ 
cate in writing, in which shall be stated 
the corporate name of said company, and 
the objects for which the company shall 
be formed, the amount of the capital 
stock of said company, the time of its 
existence, not to exceed fifty years, the 
number of shares of which the said com- 
shall consist of the number of trustees and 
their names, who shall manage the con¬ 
cerns of the company for the first year, 
and the names of the town and county 
in which the operations of the said com¬ 
pany are to be carried on. 

When the ceptificate shall have been 
filed as aforesaid, the persons who shall 
have signed and acknowledged the same, 
and their successors, shall be a body poli¬ 


tic and corporate, in fact and in name, 
'by the name stated in such certificate, 
and they shall, by their corporate name, 
be capable, in law, of purchasing, hold¬ 
ing and conveying any real and personal 
estate whatever, w r hich may be necessary 
to enable the said company to carry on 
their operations named in such certifi¬ 
cate, but shall not mortgage the same 
nor give any lien thereon. 

The stock, property and concerns of 
such company shall be managed by not 
less than three nor more than nine trus¬ 
tees, who shall respectively be stock¬ 
holders in such company and citizens of 
the United States, and a majority of 
whom shall be citizens of this state, who 
shall, except the first year, be annually 
elected by the stockholders, at such time 
and place as shall be directed by the laws 
of the company and public notice of 
the time and place of holding such elec¬ 
tion shall be published, not less than 
ten days previous thereto, in the news¬ 
paper printed nearest to the place where 
the operations of said company shall be 
carried on; and the election shall be made 
by such of the stockholders as »hall at¬ 
tend for that purpose, either in person or 
by proxy. All elections shall be by ballot 
and each stockholder shall be entitled to 
as many votes as he owns shares of stock 
in the said company, and the persons re¬ 
ceiving the greatest number of votes shall 
be trustees; and when any vacancy shall 
happen among the trustees, by death, 
resignation or otherwise, it shall be filled, 
for the remainder of the year, in such 
manner as may be provided for by the 
by-laws of the said company. 



8 


In case it shall happen, at any time, 
that an election of trustees shall not be 
made on the day designated by the by¬ 
laws of said company, when it ought to 
have been made, the company, for that 
reason, shall not be dissolved; but it 
shall be lawful, on any other day, to 
hold an election for trustees in, such man¬ 
ner as shall be provided for by the said 
by-laws, and all acts of trustees shall be 
valid and binding against such company 
until their successors shall be elected. 

There shall be a president of the com¬ 
pany, who shall be designated from the 
number of the trustees, and also such 
subordinate officers as thfe company, by 
its by-laws, may designate, who may be 
elected or appointed, and required to give 
such security for the faithful perform¬ 
ance of the duties of their office as the 
company, by its by-laws, may require. 

It shall be lawful for the trustees to 
call in and demand from the stockhold¬ 
ers respectively all such sums of money 
by them subscribed at such times and 
in such payments or installments as the 
trustees shall deem proper, under the 
penalty of forfeiting the shares of stock 
subscribed for, and all previous pay¬ 
ments made thereon, if a personal de¬ 
mand or notice requiring such payment 
shall have been publishe or sipc suc¬ 
cessive weeks in the newspaper nearest 
to the place where the business of the, 
company shall be carried on as afore- 
said. 

The trustees of such company shall 
have power to make such prudential by¬ 
laws as they shall deem proper for the 
management and disposition of the stock 
and business affairs of such company, 
not inconsistent with the laws of this 
State, and prescribing the duties of offi¬ 
cers, artificers and servants that may 
be employed; for the appointment of all 
officers, and for carrying on all kinds of 
business within the objects and purposes 
of such company. 

The stock of such company shall be 
deemed personal estate, and shall be 
transferable in such manner as shall be 
prescribed by the by-laws of the com¬ 
pany; but no shares shall be transfera¬ 
ble until all previous calls thereon shall 
have been fully paid in, or shall have 
been declared forfeited for the non-pay¬ 
ment of calls thereon; and it shall not 
be lawful for such company to use any 
of their funds in the purchase of any 
stock in any other corporation. 

The copy of any certificate of incor¬ 
poration filed in pursuance of this Act, 
certified by the County Clerk or his dep¬ 
uty to be a true copy, and of the whole 
of such certificate, shall be received in 
all courts and places as presumptive le¬ 
gal evidence of the facts therein con¬ 
tained. 

The President and a majority of the 
trustees, within thirty days after the 
payment of the last installment of the 
capital stock, so fixed and limited by the 
company, shall make a certificate, stat¬ 


ing the amount of the capital so fixed 
and paid in, which certificate shall be 
signed and sworn to by the President 
and a majority of the trustees; and shall, 
within the said thirty days, record the 
same in the office of the County Clerk 
of the county wherein the business of 
the said company is carried on. 

Every such company shall anually, 
within twenty days from the first day of 
January, make a report which shall be 
published in the town, city or village, or 
if there is no newspaper in said town, 
city or village, then in some newspaper 
published nearest the place where the 
business of the company is carried on, 
which shall state the amount of capital 
and the porportion actually paid in, 
and the amount of its existing debts, 
which report shall be signed by the Pres¬ 
ident and a majority of the trustees, 
and shall be verified by the oath of the 
President or Secretary of said company, 
and filed in the office of the County 
Clerk of the county where the business of 
the company shall be carried on; and 
if any of said companies shall fail so to 
do, all the trustees of the company shall 
be jointly and severally liable for all the 
debts of the company then existing, and 
for all that shall be contracted before 
such reporth shall be made. 

If the trustees of any such company 
shall declare and pay a dividend when 
the company is insolvent, or any dividend 
the payment of which shall render it in¬ 
solvent, or which would diminish the 
amount of its capital stock, they shall 
be jointly and severally liable for all the 
debts of the company then existing, and 
for all that shall thereafter be contract¬ 
ed, while they shall respectively contin¬ 
ue in office; Provided, that if any of the 
trustees shall object to the declaring of 
such dividend or to the payment of the 
same, and shall at any time before the 
time fixed for the payment thereof, file 
a certificate of their objection in writing 
with the clerk of the company, and with 
the County Clerk, they shall be exempt 
from the said liability. 

Nothing but money shall be considered 
as payment of any part of the capital 
stock, and no loan of money shall be 
made by any such company to any stock¬ 
holder therein ;and if any such loan shall 
be made to a stockholder, the officers 
who shall make it, or who shall assent 
thereto, shall be jointly and severally li¬ 
able to the extent of such loan, and in¬ 
terest, for all the debts of the company 
contracted before the repayment of the 
sum so loaned. 

If any certificate or report made, or 
public notice given, by the officers of 
any such company, in pursuance of the 
provisions of this Chapter, shall be 
false in any material representation, all 
the officers who have signed the same, 
knowing it to be false, shall be jointly 
and severally liable for all the debts of 
the company contracted while they are 
stockholders or officers thereof. 


9 


No person holding stock in any such 
ompany as executor, administrator, 
guardian or trustee, and no person hold- 
ng such stock as collateral security, 
hall be personally subject to any liabil- 
ty as stockholder of such company; but 
the person so pledging such stock shall 
be considered as holding the same, and 
shall be liable as a stockholder accord¬ 
ingly; and the estates and funds in the 
hands of the executor, administrator, 
guardian or trustee shall be liable in 
like manner, and to the same extent as 
the testator or intestate, or the ward or 
person interested in such trust fund 
would have been if he had been living 
and competent to act, and held the same 
stock in his own name. 

Every such executor, administrator, 
guardian or trustee, shall represent the 
share of stock in his hands at all meet¬ 
ings of the company, and may vote ac¬ 
cordingly as a stockholder; and every 
person who shall pledge his stock as 
aforesaid may, nevertheless,\ represent 
the same at all such meetings, and may 
vote accordingly, as stockholder. 

The stockholder of any company or¬ 
ganized under the provisions of this 
Chapter, shall be, jointly and severally, 
individually liable for all debts that may 
be due and owing to all their laborers, 
servants and apprentices, for services 
performed for such corporation. 

Any company which may be formed un¬ 
der this Chapter may increase or dimin¬ 
ish its capital stock by complying with 
the provisions of this Chapter, to any 
amount which may be deemed sufficient 
and proper for the purposes of the cor¬ 
poration, $nd may also extend its busi¬ 
ness to any other manufacturing, min¬ 
ing or chemical business, subject to the 
liabilities and provisions of this Chap¬ 
ter. But, before any corporation shall 
be entitled to diminish its capital stock, 
if the amount of its debts and liabilities 
shall exceed the amount of capital to 
which it is proposed to be reduced, such 
amounts of debts and liabilities shall be 
satisfied and reduced, so as not to ex¬ 
ceed such diminished amount of capital. 

Whenever any company shall desire to 
call a meeting of the stockholders, for 
increasing or diminishing the amount of 
capital stock, or for extending or chang¬ 
ing its business, it shall be the duty of 
the trustees to publish a notice, signed 
by at least a majority of them, in a 
newspaper in the county, if any shall 
be published therein, at least three suc¬ 
cessive weeks, and to deposit a written 
or printed copy thereof in the post-of¬ 
fice, addressed to each stockholder, at 
his usual place of residence, at least 
three weeks previous to the day fixed 
upon for holding such meeting, specify¬ 
ing the object of the meeting, the time 
and place when and where such meeting 
shall be held,, and the amount to which 
it shall be proposed to increase or dimin¬ 
ish the capital, and the business to 
which the company would be extended 


or changed: and a vote of at least two- 
thirds of all the shares of stock shall 
be necessary to an increase or diminution 
of the amount of its capital stock, or 
the extension or change of its business 
as aforesaid. 

If, at any time and place specified in 
the notice provided for in the preceding 
section of this Chapter, stockholders 
shall appear in person, or by proxy, in 
number representing not less than two- 
thirds of all the shares of stock of the 
corporation, they shall organize by 
choosing one of the trustees chairman 
of the meeting, and also a suitable per¬ 
son secretary, and proceed to a vote of 
those present, in person or by proxy, 
and if, on canvassing the votes, it shall 
appear that a sufficient number of votes 
has been given in favor of increasing 
or diminishing the amount of capital, or 
of extending or changing its business as 
aforesaid, a certificate of the proceedings, 
showing a compliance with this Chapter, 
the amount of capital actually paid in, 
the business to which it is extended or 
changed, the whole amount of debts or 
liabilities of the company, and the 
amount to which the capital shall be in¬ 
creased or diminished, shall be made out, 
signed and verified by the affidavit of the 
Chairman, .vnd be countersigned by the 
Secretary, t' such certificate shall be 
acknowledged by the Chairman and filed, 
as required by the first section of this 
Chapter; and, when so filed, the capital 
stock of such corporation shall be in¬ 
creased or diminished to the amount 
specified in such certificate, and the bus¬ 
iness extended or changed as aforesaid, 
as the case may be. 

If the indebtedness of any such compa¬ 
ny shall at any time exceed the amount 
of its capital stock, the trustees of such 
company assenting thereto, shall be per¬ 
sonally and individually liable for such 
excess to the creditors of such company. 

No stockholder shall be personally lia¬ 
ble for the payment of any debt con¬ 
tracted by any company formed under 
this Chapter, which is not to be paid 
within one year from the time the debt 
is contracted; nor unless a suit for the 
collection of such debt shall be brought 
against such company, within one year 
after the debt shall become due; and no 
suit shall be brought against any stock¬ 
holder who shall cease to be a stockhold¬ 
er in any such company for any debt so 
contracted, unless the same shall be com¬ 
menced within two years from the time 
he shall have ceased to be a stockholder 
in such company, nor until an execution 
against the company shall have been re¬ 
turned unsatisfied in whole or in part. 

It shall be the duty of the trustees of 
every such corporation, or company, to 
cause a book to be kept by the treasurer 
or clerk thereof, containing the names of 
all persons, alphabetically arranged, who 
are, or shall within six years have been, 
stockholders of such company, and show- 


10 


ing their places of residence, the number 
of shares of stock held by them respec¬ 
tively, and the time when they respec¬ 
tively became the owners of such shares, 
and the amount of stock actually paid 
in; which book, during the usual business 
hours of the day, on every day except 
Sunday and the Fourth of July, shall be 
open for the inspection of stockholders 
and creditors of the company, and their 
personal representatives, at the office or 
principal place of business of such com- 
pany, in the county where its business 
operations shall be located; and any and 
every such stockholder, creditor or rep¬ 
resentative, shall have a right to make 
extracts from such book, and no transfer 
of stock shall be valid for any purpose 
whatever except to render the person to 
whom it shall be transferred, liable for 
the debts of the company, according to 
the provisions of this Act, until it shall 
have been entered therein, as required by 
this Section, by an entry showing to and 
from whom transferred. Such book shall 
be presumptive evidence of the facts 
therein stated in favor of the plaintiff, 
in any suit or proceeding against such 
company, or against any one or more 
stockholders. 

Every officer or agent of any such com¬ 
pany who shall neglect to make proper 
entry in such book, or shall refuse or ne¬ 
glect to exhibit the same, or 
allow the same to be inspected, 
and extracts to be taken therefrom, 
as provided by this Section, shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.and shall 
forfeit and pay to the party injured a 
penalty of fifty dollars for such neglect 
or refusal, and all the damages resulting 
therefrom; and every company that shall 
neglect to keep such book open for inspec¬ 
tion as aforesaid, shall forfeit to the peo¬ 
ple a sum of fifty dollars, for every day 
it shall so neglect, to be sued for and re¬ 
covered, in the name of the People,by the 
District Attorney of the District in which 
the business of such corporation shall be 
located, and when so recovered, the 
amount shall be paid into the Treasury of 
such county for the use thereof. 


CHAPTER LXV. 

An Act. 

To Provide for the Formation of Corpo¬ 
rations for certain purposes. 

[Approved April 14, 1853.] 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Corporations for manufact¬ 
uring, mining, mechanical, or chemical 
purposes, or for the purpose of engaging 
in any species of trade or commerce, for¬ 
eign or domestic, may be formed accord¬ 
ing to the provisions of this Act; such 
being subject to all the conditions and 
liabilities herein imposed, and to none 
others. 


Sec. 2. Any three or more persons, who 
may desire to form a company for any 
one or more of the purposes specified in 
the preceding section, may make, and 
acknowledge, before some officer compe¬ 
tent to take the acknowledgment of deeds, 
and file in the office of the County Clerk 
of the county in which the principal place 
of business of the company is intended to 
be located, and a duplicate thereof in 
the office of the Secretary of State, a cer¬ 
tificate in writing, in which shall be 
stated the corporate name of the compa¬ 
ny, the objects for which the company 
shall be formed, the amount of its capi¬ 
tal stock, the time of its existence, not 
to exceed fifty years, the number of 
shares of which the stock shall consist, 
the number of trustees and their names 
who shall manage the concerns of the 
company for the first three months, and 
the names of the city or town and coun¬ 
ts'- in which the principal place of busi¬ 
ness of the company is to be located. 

Sec. 3. A copy of any certificate of in¬ 
corporation, filed in pursuance of this 
Act, and certified by the County Clerk 
of the county in which it is filed, or his 
deputy, or by the Secretary of State, 
shall be received in all courts and places 
as presumptive evidence of the facts 
therein stated. 

Sec. 4. When the certificate shall have 
been filed, the persons who shall have 
signed and acknowledged the same, and 
their successors, shall be a body politic 
and corporate, and in fact and in name, 
by the name stated in the certificate, and 
by their corporate name have succession 
for the period limited, and power: First, 
to sue and be sued in any cburt; Sec¬ 
ond, to make and use a common seal, 
and alter the same at pleasure; Third, 
to purchase, hold, sell, and convey such 
real and personal estate as the purposes 
of the corporation shall require; Fourth, 
to appoint such officers, agents and ser¬ 
vants as the business of the corporation 
shall require—to define their powers, pre¬ 
scribe their duties, and fix their compen¬ 
sation; Fifth, to require of them such se¬ 
curity as may be thought proper for the 
fulfilment of their duties, and to remove 
them at will, except that no trustee shall 
be removed from office unless by a vote 
of two-thirds of the whole number of 
trustees, or by a vote of a majority of 
the trustees, upon a written request sign¬ 
ed by stockholders of two-thirds of the 
whole stock; Sixth, to make by-laws not 
inconsistent with the laws of the State 
for the organization of the company, the 
management of its property, the regula¬ 
tion of its affairs, the trasfer of its stock, 
and for carrying on all kinds of business 
within the objects and purposes of the 
company. 

Sec. 5. The corporate powers of the 
corporation shall be exercised by a 
board of not less than three trustees, 
who shall be stockholders in the compa¬ 
ny, and a majority of them citizens ot 
the United States and residents of this 
State, and who shall, after the expiration 



11 


of the term of the trustees first selected 
be annually elected by the stockholders 
at such time and place, and upon such 
notice and in such mode as shall be di¬ 
rected by the by-laws of the company; 
but all elections shall be by ballot, and 
each stockholder, either in person or by 
proxy, shall be entitled to as many votes 
as he owns shares of stock; and the 
persons receiving the greatest number of 
votes shall be trustees. When any vacan¬ 
cy shall happen among the trustees by 
death, resignation, or otherwise, it shall 
be filled for the remainder of the year 
in such manner as may be provided by 
the by-laws of the company. 

Sec. 6. If it should happen, at any 
time, that an election of trustees shall 
not be made on the day designated by 
the by-laws of the company, the corpora¬ 
tion shall not for that reason be dis¬ 
solved, but it shall be lawful on any 
other day to hold an election for trustees, 
in such manner as shall be provided for 
by the by-laws of the company; and all 
acts of trustes shall be valid and binding 
upon the company until their successors 
shall be elected. 

Sec. 7. A majority of the whole number 
of trustees shall form a board for the 
transaction of business, and every de¬ 
cision of a majority of the persons duly 
assembled as a board, shall be valid as a 
corporate Act. 

Sec. 8. The first meeting of the trustees 
shall be called by a notice, signed by one 
or more of the persons named trustees 
in the certificate, setting forth the time 
and place of the meeting, which notice 
shall either be delivered personally to 
each trustee, or published at least ten 
days in some newspaper of the county 
in which is the principal place of bus¬ 
iness of the corporation, or if no news¬ 
paper be published in the county, then 
in some newspaper nearest thereto. 

Sec. 9. The stock of the company shall 
be deemed personal estate, and shall be 
transferable in such manner as shall be 
prescribed by the by-laws of the com¬ 
pany; but no transfer shall be valid, ex¬ 
cept between the parties thereto, until 
the same shall have been so entered up¬ 
on the books of the company, as to show 
the names of the parties by and to whom 
transferred, the number and designation 
of the shares, and the date of the trans¬ 
fer. 

Sec. 10. The trustees shall have power 
to call in and demand from the stock¬ 
holders the sums by them subscribed, at 
such times and in such payments or in¬ 
stallments as they may deem proper. No¬ 
tice of each assessment shall be given to 
the stockholders personally, or shall be 
published once a week for at least four 
weeks in some newspaper published at 
the place designated as the principal 
place of business of the corporation, oi 
if none is published there, in some news¬ 
paper nearest to such place. If, 
such notice has been given, any stock¬ 
holder shall meke default in the pay¬ 
ment of the assessments upon the shares 


held by him, so many of such shares 
may be sold as will be necessary for the 
payment of the assessment on all the 
shares held by him. The sale of said 
shares shall be made as prescribed in the 
by-laws of the company; Provided, that 
no sale shall be made except at public 
auction to the highest bidder, after a no¬ 
tice of thirty days, published as above di¬ 
rected in this section; and that at such 
sale the person who will agree to pay the 
assessment so due, together with the ex¬ 
pense of advertisement and the other 
expenses of sale for the smallest number 
of whole shares, shall be deemed the 
highest bidder. 

Sec. II. Whenever any stock is held by 
any person as executor, administrator, 
guardian or trustee, he shall represent 
such stock at all meetings of the com¬ 
pany, and may vote accordingly as a 
stockholder. 

Sec. 12. Any stockholder may pledge 
his stock by a delivery of the certificates 
or other evidence of his interest, but may 
nevertheless represent the same at all 
meetings,and vote accordingly as a stock¬ 
holder. 

Sec. 12. It shall not be lawful for the 
trustees to make any dividend except 
from the surplus profits arising from the 
business of the corporation; nor to divide, 
withdraw, or in any way pay to the 
stockholders, or any of them, any part 
of the capital stock of the company; nor 
to reduce the capital stock, unless in the 
manner preseribpri in this Act: and in 
case of the violation of any of the pro¬ 
visions of this section, the trustees, un¬ 
der whose administration the same may 
have happened, except those who may 
have caused their dissent therefrom to be 
entered at large on the minutes of the 
board of trustees at the time, or were not 
present -when the same did happen, shall, 
in their individual and private capacities, 
be jointly and severally liable to the cor¬ 
poration. and the creditors thereof, in the 
event of its dissolution, to the full 
amount so divided, withdrawn, paid out, 
or reduced; Provided, that this section 
shall not be construed to prevent a divis¬ 
ion and distribution of the capital stock 
of the company, which shall remain af¬ 
ter the payment of all its debts, upon the 
dissolution of the corporation or the ex¬ 
piration of its charter. 

Sec. 14. The total amount of the debts 
of the corporation shall not at any time 
exceed the amount of the capital stock 
actually paid in; and in case of any ex¬ 
cess. the trustees under whose adminis¬ 
tration the same may have happened, ex¬ 
cept those who may have caused their 
dissent therefrom to be entered at large 
on the minutes of the board of trustees 
at the time, and except those who were 
not present when the same did happen, 
shall, in their individual and private ca¬ 
pacities, be liable jointly and severally 
to the said corporation, and in the event 
of its dissolution, to any of the creditors 
thereof, for the full amount of such ex¬ 
cess. 


12 


Sec. 15. No corporation oranized under 
this Act, shall, by any implication or con¬ 
struction, be deemed to possess the pow¬ 
er of issuing bills, notes, or other evi¬ 
dences of debt for circulation as money. 

Sec. 16. Each stockholder shall be in¬ 
dividually and personally liable for his 
portion of all the debts and liabilities of 
the company, contracted or incurred dur¬ 
ing the time that he was a stockholder. 
For the recovery of which, joint or sev¬ 
eral actions may be instituted and pros¬ 
ecuted. 

Sec. 17.—No person holding stock as ex¬ 
ecutor, administrator, guardian, or trus¬ 
tee, or holding it as collateral security or 
in pledge, shall be personally subject to 
any liability as a stockholder of the com¬ 
pany; but the person pledging the stock 
shall be considered as holding the same, 
and shall be liable as a stockholder ac¬ 
cordingly; and the estate and funds in the 
hands of the executor, administrator, 
guardian, or trustee, shall be liable in 
like manner to the same extent as the 
testator or intestate, or the ward or per¬ 
son interested in the trust fund would 
have been, if he had been living and com¬ 
petent to act and hold the stock in his 
own name. 

Sec. 18.—It shall be the duty of the trus¬ 
tees of every company incorporated un¬ 
der this Act, to cause a book to be kept 
containing the names of all persons, al¬ 
phabetically arranged, who are or shall be¬ 
come stockholders of the corporation, and 
showing the number of shares of stock 
held by them respectively and the time 
when they respectively became the own¬ 
ers of such shares; which book, during 
the usual business hours of the day, on 
every day except Sunday and the Fourth 
of July, shall be open for the inspection 
of stockholders and creditors of the com¬ 
pany at the office or principal place of 
business of the company; and any stock¬ 
holder or creditor shall have the right to 
make extracts from such book, or to de¬ 
mand and receive from the clerk or other 
officer having charge of such book, a cer¬ 
tified copy of any entry made therein; 
such book or certified copy of any entry 
shall be presumptive evidence of the facts 
therein stated, in any action or proceed¬ 
ing against the company, or against any 
one or more stockholders. 

Sec. 19. If the clerk or other officer hav¬ 
ing charge of such book shall make any 
false entry, or neglect to make any prop¬ 
er entry therein, or shall refuse or neglect 
to exhibit the same or to allow the 
same to be inspected, or extracts 
to be taken therefrom, or to give 
a certified copy of any entry therein, as 
provided in the preceding section, he shall 
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and 
shall forfeit and pay to the party injured 
a penalty of one hundred dollars, and all 
damages resulting therefrom; and for ne¬ 
glecting to keep such books for inspection 
as aforesaid, the corporation shall forfeit 
to the people the sum of one hundred dol¬ 


lars for every day it shall so neglect—to be 
sued for and recovered in the name of the 
people by the District Attorney of the 
county in which the principal place of 
business of the corporation is located. 

Sec. 20. Any company incorporated un¬ 
der this Act, may, by complying with the 
provisions herein contained, increase or 
diminish the capital stock to any amount 
which may be deemed sufficient and pro¬ 
per for the purpose of the corporation: 
but before any corporation shall be en¬ 
titled to diminish the amount of its capi¬ 
tal stock, if the amount of its debts and 
liabilities shall exceed the sum to which 
the capital is proposed to be diminished, 
such amount shall be satisfied and re¬ 
duced, so as not to exceed the diminished 
amount of capital. 

Sec. 21. Whenever it is desired to di¬ 
minish or increase the amount of capital 
stock, a meeting of the stockholders may 
be called by a notice signed at least by a 
majority of the trustees, and published 
for at least four weeks in some newspa¬ 
per published in the county where the 
principal place of business of the com¬ 
pany is located, which notice shall speci¬ 
fy the object of the meeting, the time and 
place wffiere it is to be held, and the 
amount to which it is proposed to in¬ 
crease or diminish the capital; and a vote 
of two thirds of all the shares of stock 
shall be necessary to an increase or di¬ 
minution of the amount of the capital 
stock. 

Sec. 22. If at any meeting so called, a 
sufficient number of votes has been given 
in favor of increasing or diminishing the 
amount of capital, a certificate of the 
proceedings, showing a compliance with 
these provisions, the amount of capital 
actually paid in, the whole amount of the 
debts and liabilities of the company, and 
the amount to which the capital stock is 
to be increased or diminished, shall be 
made out, signed and verified by the affi¬ 
davit of the chairman and secretary of 
the meeting, certified by a majority of the 
trustees, and filed, as required by the 
second section of this Act; and when so 
filed, the capital stock of the corporation 
shall be increased or diminished to the 
amount specified in the certificate. 

Sec. 23. Upon the dissolution of any 
corporation formed under this Act, the 
trustees at the time of the dissolution 
shall be trustees of the creditors and 
stockholders of the corporation dissolved, 
and shall have full power and authority 
to sue for'and recover the debts and pro¬ 
perty of the corporation, by the name of 
trustees of such corporation, collect and 
pay the outstanding debts, settle all its 
affairs, and divide amona the stockholders 
the money and other property that shall 
remain after the payment of the debts 
and necessary expenses. 

Sec. 24. Any corporation formed under 
this Act may dissoH'p and dis-inoorporate 
itself by presenting to the County Judge 
of the county in which the meetings of 


the trustees are usually held, a petition 
to the effect, accompanied by a certifi¬ 
cate of its proper officers, and setting 
forth, that at a general or specified meeting 
of the stockholders called for that pur¬ 
pose, it was decided by a vote of two- 
thirds of all the stockholders to disin¬ 
corporate and dissolve the corporation; 
notice of the application shall then be 
given by the clerk, which notice shall set 
forth the nature of the application, and 
shall specify the time and place at which 
it is to be heard, and shall oe published 

in some newspaper of the county once a 
week for four weeks, or if no newspaper 
is published in the county, by advertise¬ 
ment posted up for thirty days in three 
of the most public places in the county. 
At the time and place appointed, or at 
any other to which it may be postponed 
by the judge, he shall proceed to consider 
the application, and, if satisfied that the 
corporation has taken the necessary pre¬ 
liminary steps, and obtained the neces¬ 
sary vote to dissolve itself, and that all 
claims against the corporation are dis¬ 
charged, he shall enter an order declar¬ 
ing it dissolved. 

Sec. 25. The fifth chapter of an Act 
concerning corporations, passed April 
twenty-second, one thousand eight hun¬ 
dred and fifty, is repealed; but this repeal 
shall not be construed to destroy the ex¬ 
istence of any company already formed 
under the provisions of said chapter, nor 
to affect any right acquired or liability in¬ 
curred under the same; but as to all such 
companies, the provisions of said chap¬ 
ter shall continue in full force, except in 
those instances in which any company 
hereafter incorporated may avail itself 
of the provisions of the next section of 
this Act. 

Sec. 26. Any company incorporated un¬ 
der the said fifth chapter of an Act con¬ 
cerning corporations,passed April twenty- 
second, one thousand eight hundred and 
fifty, may continue its corporate exis¬ 
tence under this Act by adopting a reso¬ 
lution to that effect by a vote of two- 
thirds of all the stockholders, and filing 
a certificate thereof, signed by its proper 
officers in the office of the Secretary of 
State and of the County Clerk of the 
county in which is located the principal 
place of business of the corporation. 
From the time of filing the certificate 
the corporation shall be subject only to 
the provisions of this Act, but the change 
so made shall not affect any right ac¬ 
quired or liability incurred previously by 
the corporation. 

Sec. 27. Corporations formed under this 
Act, and the members thereof, shall not 
be subject to the conditions and liabili¬ 
ties contained in an Act entitled “An Act 
concerning Corporations,’’ passed April 
twenty-second, one thousand eight hun¬ 
dred and fifty. 


CHAPTER CXIX. 

An Act 

To protect Owners of Growing Crops, 
Buildings, and other Improvements in 
the Mining Districts of this State. 

[Approved April 25, 1855.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. No person shall claim for 
mining purposes, destroy or injure any 
growing crops of grain or garden vege¬ 
tables growing upon the mineral lands 
of this State, nor undermine or injure 
any house, building or improvement, or 
fruit trees, standing upon mineral lands 
and the property of another, except as 
hereinafter provided. 

Section 2. Whenever any person, for 
mining purposes, shall desire to occupy or 
use any mineral lands of this State, then 
occupied by such growing crops of grain, 
garden vegetables, fruit trees, or other 
garden vegetables, fruit trees, houses, 
buildings or other improvements, proper¬ 
ty of another, such person shall first give 
bond to the owner of the growing crop, 
building, fruit trees or other improve¬ 
ment, to be approved by a Justice of the 
Peace of the Township, with two or more 
sufficient sureties, in a sum to be fixed by 
three disinterested citizens, householders 
of the township, one to be selected by the 
obligor, one by the obligee, and one by a 
Justice of the Peace of the township, con¬ 
ditional that the obligor shall pay to the 
obligee, any and all damages which said 
obligee may sustain in consequence of the 
destruction by the obligor, or those in his 
employ, of the growing crops, fruit trees, 
improvements or buildings of the obligee: 
provided, that the word improvements in 
this Act shall be construed to mean any 
superstructure on said farm, ranch or 
garden, and nothing more. 


CHAPTER CLXII. 

An Act 

To amend an Act entiteled “An Act 
to provide for the formation of Corpor¬ 
ations for certain purposes,’’ passed 
April 14th, 1853. 

[Approved April 30th, 1855] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Section first of said Act is 
amended so as to read as follows: Cor¬ 
porations for manufacturing, mining, me¬ 
chanical, wharfiing and dockage or chem¬ 
ical purposes, or for the purpose of en¬ 
gaging in any species of trade or com¬ 
merce, foreign or domestic, may be form¬ 
ed according to the provisions of this Act: 
such corporations and members thereof 
being subject to all the conditions and li¬ 
abilities herein imposed and to none oth¬ 
ers. 



14 


CHAPTER CX 
An Act 

Supplementary to an Act entitled 
an Act to provide for the Formation of 
Corporations for certain purposes, 
passed April 14th, 1853. 

[Approved March 27, 1857.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. It shall be the duty of the 
Trustees of every Company, incorporated 
under this Act, for the purpose of ditch¬ 
ing-, mining-, or conveying- water for min¬ 
ing- purposes, to cause a book to be kept 
containing the names of all persons, alph’ 
abetically arranged, who are, or shall be¬ 
come stockholdrs of the Corporation, and 
showing the number and designation of 
shares of stock held by them respective¬ 
ly, and the time when they respectively 
became the owners of such shares; also a 
book or books, in which shall be entered 
at length, in a plain and simple manner, 
all by-laws, orders and resolutions of the 
Company and Board of Trustees, and the 
manner and time of their adoption, which 
books, during the business hours Of the 
day, Sundays and Fourth of July except¬ 
ed, shall be open for the inspection of 
stockholders and the creditors of the com¬ 
pany, each individual stockholder, and 
their duly authorized agents and 

attorneys, at the office or prin¬ 
cipal place of business of the com¬ 
pany. Provided, that the office 
and books of every such Company shall 
be kept, and the books of the Company 
shall be open, as aforesaid, in the county 
in which their business is transacted, and 
every stockholder or creditor, as afore¬ 
said,or their agents, or attorneys, shall 
have the right to make extracts from 
such books, or upon payment of reason¬ 
able clerk’s fees therefore, to demand and 
receive from the clerk, or other officer 
having charge of such books, a certified 
copy of any entry made therein; such 
book or certified copy of any entry, shall 
be presumptive evidence of the facts 
therein stated, in any action or proceed¬ 
ing against the Company, or any one or 
more stockholders. 

Sec. 2. If the clerk or other officer hav¬ 
ing charge of such books, shall make any 
false entry, or neglect to make any prop¬ 
er entry therein, or shall refuse or ne¬ 
glect to exhibit the same, or allow the 
same to be inspected, or extracts to be 
taken therefrom, or to give a certified 
copy of any entry therein, as provided in 
the preceding section, he shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall for¬ 
feit and pay to the party injured, a pen¬ 
alty of two hundred and one dollars, and 
all damages resulting therefrom, to be re¬ 
covered in any court of competent juris¬ 
diction in this State; and for neglect to 
keep such books for inspection, and at 
the place provided for in the last sec¬ 
tion, the Corporation shall forfeit to the 
People of the State of California the sum 
of two hundred and one dollors for every 


day they shall so neglect; to 
be sued for a*id ecovered before 
any court of competent jurisdiction in the 
county in which the principal business 
of such Company is transacted; and it 
shall be the duty of the District Attorney, 
within and for such county, to prosecute 
such action, in the name of and for the 
benefit ( of the People of the State of Cal¬ 
ifornia. 

And it is further provided, that in case 
any such incorporated Company shall re¬ 
fuse or neglect, for the space of one full 
year after the passage of this Act, to 
comply with the provisions of this and 
the preceding section then upon the 
showing of such facts, by petition of any 
person aggrieved thereby, and due proof 
thereof, before the county judge of the 
county in which such Company’s princi¬ 
pal business is transacted, after such 
Company shall have been duly notified 
thereof, by summons to be issued by said 
Judge, citing such Company to appear be¬ 
fore such Judge, at a time and place 
therein mentioned, which shall not be less 
than ten nor more than thirty days from 
the date of such summons,such Company 
shall, by said Judge, be declared and de¬ 
creed to be disincorporated, so far as to 
deprive said Company of all the privileges 
of this Act, but in no manner to affect the 
remedy of,all persons against such com¬ 
pany, to be exercised as this Act provides. 
Provided, that nothing contained in the 
provisions of this section, concerning the 
disincorporating of such Companies, shall 
be so construed as to prevent the enforce¬ 
ment of the other remedies in this sec¬ 
tion mentioned, at any time after the 
passage of this Act, except as herein pro¬ 
vided. 


CHAPTER CLXXXI. 

An Act amendatory of and sup¬ 
plementary to an Act entitled, 
“An Act to provide for the 
formation of Corporations for certain 
purposes,” passed April fourteenth, one 
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, 
and An Act entitled an Act to amend 
an Act entitled an Act to provide for the 
formation of Corporations for certain 
purposes,” passed April fourteenth, one 
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, 
passed April thirtieth, one thousand 
eight hundred and fifty-five. 

[Approved April 10, 1858.] 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. That section one of an Act 
entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the for¬ 
mation of Corporations for certain pur¬ 
poses,” passed April fourteenth, one 
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three,be 
and the same is hereby amended so as 
to read as follows: 

Section one—Corporations for •manufac¬ 
turing, mining, mechanical, wharfing 
and dockage, chemical, or agricultural 



15 


purposes, or for the purpose of engaging 
in am species of trade or commerce, for¬ 
eign or domestic, may be formed accord¬ 
ing to the provisions of this Act; such 
corporations and members thereof being 
subject to all the conditions and liabilities 
herein imposed, and to none others; Pro¬ 
vided, that nothing in this section shall 
be so construed as to authorize a company 
formed under it to own or hold possession 
of more than fourteen hundred and forty 
acres of land, or to authorize an individ¬ 
ual member of such company or associa¬ 
tion, in his corporate capacity to hold, 
own, or possess a number of acres to ex- 
ceeed eighty: 

And Provided, further, that no corpora¬ 
tion formed under the provisions of said 
Act of April fourteenth, one thousand, 
eight hundred and fifty-three, except those 
formed for agricultural purposes, shall 
own or hold possession of more real es¬ 
tate than shall be actually necessary for 
the prosecution of the business for which 
it was incorporated; and Provided, 
further, that no corporation formed for 
agricultural purposes shall be allowed to 
hold any mineral lands under the provis¬ 
ions of this Act. 

Sec. 2. Provided that no contract, valid 
in law, or right sacred in equity, shall be 
impaired by the retroactive force of this 
section; Provided, that nothing in this 
section shall be so construed as to author¬ 
ize a company formed under it to own or 
hold possession of more than fourteen 
hundred and forty acres of land. 


CHAPTER XCVIII. 

An Act Amendatory and Supplemental to 
an Act entitled an Act to provide for 
the formation of Corporations for cer¬ 
tain purposes, passed April fourteenth, 
eighteen hundred and fifty-three. 

[Approved March 7, 1859.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Section second of said Act 
is hereby amended so as to read as fol¬ 
lows: 

Section second—Any three or more per¬ 
sons who may desire to form a company 
for any one or more of the purposes spe¬ 
cified in the preceding section, may make, 
sign, and acknowledge,before some officer 
competent to take the acknowledgment of 
deeds, and file, in the office of the County 
Clerk of the county in which the princi¬ 
pal place of business of the company is 
intended to be located, and a certified 
copy thereof, under the hand of the 
Clerk, and seal of the County Court of 
said county, in the office of the Secretary 
of State, a certificate in writing, in which 
shall be stated the corporate name of the 
company, the obects for which the com¬ 
pany shall be formed, the amount of its 
capital stock, the time of its existence, 


not to exceed fifty years, the number of 
shares of which the stock shall consist 

° f Trustees and their names! 
s all manage the concerns of the 
company for the first three months and 
the names of the city, or Town and 

business £ tTm^ ^ principal Place of 
Sec ? A |f compan y is to be located. 
, ' A11 corporations heretofore 

formed under the provisions of this Act 
o which this is amendatory, who have 
filed a certified copy of the certificate in 
writing required to be executed in the 
first section of this Act, in the office of 

tent. ff r f ^ 0f State ’ ShaI1 ’ t0 aP in- 
tents and purposes, be as legally incor- 

had* h e L a VZ° USh a duplicate thereof 
had been filed in the office of the said 

Secretary of State, and all acts hereto¬ 
fore done by such companies, under their 
corporate name, in conformity to the 
laws governing corporations in this State 
are hereby made lawful acts. 


CHAPTER CCXII. 

An Act to provide for the conveyance of 

Mining Claims. 

[Approved April 13, I860.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows; 

Section 1 . Conveyances of mining 
claims may be evidenced by bills of sale 
or instruments in writing not under seal, 
signed by the person from whom the es¬ 
tate or interest is intended to pass, in 
the presence of one or more attesting 
witnesses; and also all conveyances of 
mining claims heretofore made by bills of 
sale or instruments in writing, not under 
seal shall have the same force and effect 
as prima facie evidence of sale, as if such 
conveyance had been made by deed under 
seal; Provided, that nothing in this Act 
shall be construed to interfere with or re¬ 
peal any lawful local rules, regulations, 
or customs, of the mines in the several 
mining districts of this State; and, Pro¬ 
vided further, every such bill of sale or 
instrument in writing shall be deemed 
and held to be fraudulent and void as 
against all persons except the parties 
thereto, unless such bill of sale or instru¬ 
ment in writing be accompanied by an 
immediate delivery to the purchaser of 
the possession of the mining claim or 
claims therein described, and be follow¬ 
ed by an actual and continued change of 
the possession thereof, or unless such bill 
of sale or instrument in writing shall be 
acknowledged and recorded as required 
by law in the case of conveyances of real 
estate. 

Sec. 2. This Act shall apply to gold 
mining claims only. 

Sec. 3. This Act shall be in force and 
take effect from and after its passage. 




CHAPTER LI. 

An Act in reference to Corporations or¬ 
ganized in this State for the purpose of 
Alining out of this State. 

[Approved Alarch 5, 1861.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. That it may be lawful for 
any corporation organized in this State, 
under the laws of this State, for the pur¬ 
pose of mining, or carrying on mining 
operations, without this State, whose 
business office is in this State, to levy as¬ 
sessments upon the capital stock thereof 
to pay the debts, future or present, of 
said corporation, or to carry on the busi¬ 
ness of said corporation; Provided, the 
same shall be equal and uniform, and at 
no one time exceed five per cent, of the 
capital stock, and such levy or assess¬ 
ment, shall constitute a valid and bind¬ 
ing obligation upon the holders of such 
stock to pay the sum so assessed against 
the stock so held. Notice of each such call 
or assessment, shall be given to the re¬ 
spective stockholders personally, or shall 
be published once a week for at least 
four weeks in some newspaper published 
at the place designated as the principal 
place of business of the corporation, and 
also in some newspaper published near¬ 
est to the point where said mining opera¬ 
tions are being carried on. If, after such 
notice has been given, any stockholder 
shall make default in the payment of 
such call, or assessment, as to the shares 
of stock held by him, so many of such 
shares may be sold as will be necessary 
for the payment of the call, or assess¬ 
ment, on the shares held by him. 

The sale of said shares shall be made 
as prescribed in the by-laws of the com¬ 
pany; Provided, that no sale shall be 
made except at public auction to the 
highest bidder, after a published notice 
of thirty days, published as above di¬ 
rected; and, that at such sale the person 
who will agree to pay the call, or assess¬ 
ment so due, together with the expense 
of advertisement and the other expenses 
of the sale for the smallest number of 
whole shares, shall be deemed the high¬ 
est biddc-r. 

Sec. 2. This Act shall take effect from 
and after its passage. 


CHAPTER LXXXIX. 

An Act to repeal Section Second of an 
Act entitled an Act to provide for the 
Conveyance of Alining Claims, ap¬ 
proved April thirteenth, eighteen hun¬ 
dred and sixty. 

[Approved Alarch 26, 1863.] 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Section second of said Act is 
hereby repealed. 


CHAPTER CDLX. 

An Act to amend an Act entitled an Act 
to provide for the formation of Corpo¬ 
rations for certain purposes, approved 
April fourteenth, eighteen hundred and 
fifty-three. 

[Approved April 27, 1863.] 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Section sixteen of said Act 
is hereby amended so as to read as fol¬ 
lows: 

Section 16. Each stockholder shall be 
individually and personally liable for hit. 
poition of all the debts and liabilities of 
the company contracted or incurred dur¬ 
ing the time that he was a stockholder, 
for the recovery of which joint or several 
actions may be instituted and prosecuted. 
In any such action, whether joint or sev 
eral, it shall be competent for the de¬ 
fendant or defendants, or any or either 
of them, on the trial of the same, to of¬ 
fer evidence of the payment by him, or 
them, or either of them, of any debts or 
liabilities of such corporations, and upon 
proof of such payment, the same shall 
be taken into account and credited to 
the party or parties making such pay¬ 
ment, and judgment shall not be ren¬ 
dered against the party or parties de¬ 
fendant proving such payment for a 
sum exceeding the amount of his or their 
proportion of the debts and liabilities of 
such incorporations, after deducting 
therefrom the sums proven to have been 
paid by him, them, or any or either of 
them, on account thereof. 

Sec. 2. This Act shall take effect and 
be in force from and after its passage. 


CHAPTER LXXVI. 

An Act to Authorize Alining Companies 
or Corporations to change their prin¬ 
cipal Place of Business. 

[Aproved February 15, 1864.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Any mining company or cor- 
corporation lawfully organized and incor¬ 
porated for mining purposes within the 
State of California,may change its office or 
principal place of business by first obtain¬ 
ing the consent in writing, of the stock¬ 
holders representing two-thirds of all the 
capital stock of the company; Provided, 
that notice of such intended change, 
after such consent shall have been ob¬ 
tained, shall be inserted for thirty days 
in some newspaper published at or near¬ 
est the principal place of business of said 
mining company or corporation, desig¬ 
nating the County or City and County to 
which it is intended to remove, before 
such removal shall be deemed law'ful. 

Sec. 2. Any mining company or corpor¬ 
ation availing itself of the privileges of 
this Act, upon filing in the office of the 
County Clerk of the county or city and 




17 


county to which a removal is intended 
to be made a certified copy of its articles 
of incorporation, together with a certifi¬ 
cate of the Trustees of the company or 
corporation, under the seal thereof, that 
the requirements of section one of this 
Act have been fulfilled, shall, from the 
time of such filing, be vested with all the 
pow r ers in its new place of business which 
it might or could have exercised if orig¬ 
inally incorporated in the county to 
which its office or principal place of busi¬ 
ness shall be removed. 

Sec. 3. This Act shall not be so con¬ 
strued as to authorize any mining com¬ 
pany or corporation to remove its office 
or principal place of business out of the 
State. 

Sec. 4. All Acts and parts of Acts in¬ 
consistent with the provisions of this 
Act are hereby repealed. 

Sec. 5. This Act shall take effect and be 
in force from and after its passage. 

_____ _ * 

CHAPTER XCI. 

An Act supplementary to the Act enti¬ 
tled an Act to amend an Act defining 
the time for commencing Civil Actions, 
passed April twenty-second, eighteen 
hundred and fifty, approved April 
eighteenth, eighteen hundred and 
sixty-three. 

[Approved February 18, 1864.] 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in. Senate and Assembly, 
do enact, as follows: 

Section 1. No action for the recovery of 
property in mining claims, or for the re¬ 
covery of the possession thereof, shall 
be maintained unless it appears that 
the Plaintiff, his ancestor, predecessor, or 
grantor, w r as seized or possessed of the 
premises in question within two years be¬ 
fore the commencement of this action. 

Sec. 2. No cause of action or defense to 
an action founded upon the title to prop¬ 
erty in mining claims, or to the rents or 
profits out of the same, shall be effectual 
unless it appear that the person prose¬ 
cuting the action or making the defense, 
or under whose title the action' is prose¬ 
cuted or the defense is made, or the an¬ 
cestor, predecessor, or grantor of such 
person, was seized or possessed of the 
premises in question within two years 
before the commencement of the Act in 
respect to which such action is prosecut¬ 
ed or defense made. 

Sec. 3. This Act shall take effect from 
and after its passage. 


CHAPTER CLIII. 

An Act to amend an Act entitled an Act 
to provide for the formation of Cor¬ 
porations for certain purposes, April 
fourteenth, eighteen hundred and fifty- 
three, and also to amend an Act en¬ 
titled an Act to amend an Act entitled 
an Act to provide for the formation of 
Corporations for certain purposes, pas¬ 
sed April fourteenth, eighteen hundred 


and fifty-three, approved April thir¬ 
tieth, eighteen hundred and fifty-five. 

[Approved March 5, 1864.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Section first of each of said 
Acts is amended so as to read as fol¬ 
lows: 

Section 1. Corporations for manufac¬ 
turing, mining, mechanical, mercantile, 
wharfing and docking, or chemical pur¬ 
poses, or for the purpose of engaging in 
any other species of trade, business, or 
commerce, foreign or domestic, may be 
formed according to the provisions of this 
Act; such corporations and the members 
thereof being subect to all the conditions 
and liabilities herein imposed, and to 
none others. 

Sec. 2. All Acts and parts of Acts in¬ 
consistent with this Act are hereby re¬ 
pealed. 


CHAPTER CCCLXXIX. 

An Act to authorize Corporations organ¬ 
ized in this State for the purpose of 
mining in or without this State to es¬ 
tablish and maintain Transfer Agencies 
in other States. 

[Approved April 4, 1864.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. That it may be lawful for 
any corporation organized in this State 
for the purpose of mining or carrying on 
mining operations in or without this 
State to establish and maintain agencies 
in other States of the United States for 
the transfer and issuance of their stock, 
and a transfer or issuance of (the) same 
at any such transfer agency, in accor¬ 
dance with the provisions of this statute, 
shall be valid and binding and as fully 
and effectually so for all purposes as if 
made upon the books of such corporation 
at its principal office within this State. 

Sec. 2. All stock of any such corpora- 
ation issued at any such transfer agency 
shall be signed by the President and Sec¬ 
retary of the corporation, and counter¬ 
signed at the time of its issuance by the 
Agent or Agents of such corporation hav¬ 
ing the charge of such transfer agency; 
and no stock shall be issued at such 
transfer agency unless the certificate or 
certificates of stock in lieu of which the 
same is issued shall at the time of such 
issuance be surrendered for cancellation. 

Sec. 3. The stocknolders of any such 
corporation may pass by-laws for the 
regulation and conduct of any such 
transfer agency; Provided, the same be, 
not inconsistent with the provisions of 
this Act. Any such transfer agency shall 
at all times be subject to the control of 
the Trustees of said corporation. 

Sec. 4. All Acts or parts of Acts incon¬ 
sistent herewith are hereby repealed. 

Sec. 5. This Act shall take effect from 
and after its passage. 




18 


CHAPTER CDXVI. 

An Act supplementary to an Act entitled 
an Act to provide Revenue for the sup¬ 
port of the Government of this State, 
approved May seventeenth, eighteen 
hundred and sixty-one. 

[Approved April 4, 1864.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. All provisions of law ex¬ 
empting mining claims from taxation are 
hereby repealed, so far as they apply to 
lands or mines in the condition of pri¬ 
vate property, and granted as such by 
the Spanish or Mexican government, or 
the Government of the United States, or 
of this State. 


CHAPTER CCCXVII. 

An Act to provide for the summary sale 
of mines or mining interests belonging to 

the estates of deceased persons. 

[Approved March 22, 1866.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Whenever it shall appear 
from the inventory of the estate of any 
deceased person that said estate consists 
in w r hole or in part of any mines or inter¬ 
est in mines, or of shares, interests or 
stocks in any mining corporation, such 
mines, interests, stocks of shares may be 
sold under the order of the Probate 
Court having jurisdiction of said estate, 
and as hereinafter provided. 

Sec. 2. The executor, administrator, or 
any heir at law of such estate, any cred¬ 
itor having a claim against the estate, 
any partner or member of any mining 
company in which such interests or 
shares are held, the President of any 
mining corporation in which stocks or 
shares are held or owned by such estate, 
may file in the Probate Court a petition 
in writing, setting forth therein the gen¬ 
eral facts of such estate being then in 
due course of administration, and partic¬ 
ularly describing the mine, interest, stock 
or shares owned by such estate, and 
which it is desired to sell. Such petition 
shall further set forth particularly the 
condition and situation of the mines, min¬ 
ing interests, or of the mining company 
or corporation in which such interests or 
shares are held, and especially the rea¬ 
sons for such sale. 

Sec. 3. Upon the presentation of such 
petition, the Probate Judge shall make 
an order directing all persons interested 
to appear before him at a time and place 
specified, not less than four nor more 
than ten weeks from the time of making 
such order, to show cause why an order 
should not be granted to the executor or 
administrator to sell such mines, mining 
interests, shares, or stocks, as are set 


forth in such petition and as belong to 
such estate. A copy of such order to 
show cause shall be personally served on 
all persons interested in the estate at 
least ten days before the time appointed 
for hearing the petition, or shall be pub¬ 
lished at least four successive weeks in 
such newspaper as the Court shall order; 
Provided, however, if all persons interest¬ 
ed in the estate shall signify in writing 
their assent to such sale, the notice may 
be dispensed with. 

Sec. 4. If, upon the hearing of such pe¬ 
tition, it shall appear to the satisfaction 
of the Probate Judge that it is to the in¬ 
terest of the estate that such mining pro¬ 
perty or interests of the estate should be 
sold, or if it be made to appear to his 
satisfaction that an immediate sale is 
necessary in order to secure the just 
rights or interests of the mining partners, 
tenants in common, or mining corpora¬ 
tions in which such mining shares, 
stocks, or property are held, such Pro¬ 
bate Judge shall thereupon make an or¬ 
der of sale authorizing the executor or 
administrator to sell such mining inter¬ 
ests, mines, stocks, or shares, as herein¬ 
after provided. 

Sec. 5. After such order of sale shall 
be made by the Probate Judge, all furth¬ 
er proceedings for the sale of such min¬ 
ing property shall be in conformity with 
the laws providing for the sale of other 
real property under the orders of the Pro¬ 
bate Court. And whenever such mining 
interest shall consist of stocks or shares 
held and owned as personalty, such fur¬ 
ther proceedings shall be in conformity 
with the law providing for the sale of 
the other personal property of an es¬ 
tate. 


CHAPTER DC. 

An Act entitled an Act concerning part¬ 
nership for mining purposes. 

[Approved April 2, 1866.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Whenever any two or more 
persons, being owners, occupants, or lo¬ 
cators of any mining claim, or when any 
two or more persons shall have associat¬ 
ed themselves together, -with or without 
any written agreement, (but not as a 
body corporate,) for the purpose of work¬ 
ing or prospecting any claim on any of 
the public lands of the United States, 
shall, after being notified in writing by 
any member of said mining company that 
they have been associated in said mining 
claim, be deemed to be copartners for 
the purpose of prospecting or working 
said mining claim, and shall be subject 
to the provisions and liabilities imposed 
by this Act. 

Sec 2. After a mining claim shall have 
been located, any person who shall be a 
member of the company, desiring to vork 




19 


said claim, may notify the other mem¬ 
bers of the company of his or their desire 
to have an assessment levied against the 
owners of said claim for the purpose of 
prospecting, working, or developing such 
claim, designating a time and place for a 
meeting of the members of such company 
for the purpose of levying such assess¬ 
ment. Such notice shall be given as pro¬ 
vided in the fourth section of this Act, 
ao.d. if a majority of the shares in such 
mining claim be represented at such 
meeting, then a majority of those present 
at such meeting shall be authorized to 
levy such assessment but if a majority of 
the shares in such company be not >eprc- 
sented at such meeting, then a majority 
of those present shall be authorized to 
cause the said mining claim to be pros¬ 
pected or worked and thereafter the own¬ 
ers in such mining claim shall be liable 
for their respective proportion of the ex¬ 
penses so incurred in prospecting, work¬ 
ing or developing such claim, to the ex¬ 
tent of the value of their interest m such 
claim; and thereafter assessments maybe 
levied from time to time, not oflener 
than once in thirty days, by any mem- 
bei not delinquent of said mining corn • 
pany, against delinquent members, for 
the collection of sufficient amount of as¬ 
sessment to pay for the working and 
prcspecting of such claim up to the time 
such assessment is made; and such delin¬ 
quent assessment may be collected as in 
this Act provided; Provided, that when 
the mining companies have by-laws de¬ 
signating what amount of work shall be 
done in such claim, then any assessment 
made as provided in this Act shall not 
exceed an amount sufficient to pay for 
the work required by the by-laws; and, 
Provided, further, that no new assess¬ 
ment shall be made until all previous as¬ 
sessments have been paid, or the reme¬ 
dies for collection thereof shall have 
been exhausted. 

Sec. 3. Any member of a mining com¬ 
pany, or his heirs, executors, administra¬ 
tors, or assigns in any mining claim, who 
shall neglect or refuse to pay any as¬ 
sessments, or shall neglect to perform 
any labor or other liability which shall 
become due from him under this Act, 
may, after the expiration of thirty days, 
after such assessment, labor, or other li¬ 
ability has become due, be notified in 
writing by any remaining member or 
members, or by his or their agent, 
that such assessment, labor, or other li¬ 
ability is due, which written notice shall 
specify the name of such mine and tlie 
district wherein it is located, ana shall 
particularly mention the liability which 
has been incurred. 

Sec. 4. Such notice and all other no¬ 
tices required under this Act shail be 
served as follows: 

First—Tf the party reside in the county 
where the mine is located, it shall be de¬ 
livered to him personally or left at his 
place of residence. 


Second—If the party reside out of the 
county, but within the State, and his 
place or residence is known, such notice 
shall be deposited in a Post Office or ex¬ 
press office in a sealed envelope, with 
postage or express charges, as the case 
may be prepaid, addressed to such party 
at his place of residence. 

Third—If such party reside out of the 
State, or his place of residence is un¬ 
known, such notice shall be published 
once a week for eight consecutive weeks, 
in some newspaper published in the coun¬ 
ty where the mine is located, if there be 
such paper, otherwise in some newspa¬ 
per published in an adoining county. 

Stc. 5. If yie person so notified shall 
neglect or refuse to pay or discharge 
such assessment, w^ork, or liability for 
ten days after personal service or leav¬ 
ing notice at his residence, when such 
service has been had or notice so left, 
or for tw r enty days after deposit in post 
or express office of such notice, when 
such deposit has been made, or until the 
expiration of the full period of publica¬ 
tion herein provided, when publication is 
made, thereafter such delinquent shall be 
deemed to have absolutely forfeited and 
abandond to the other members of said 
mining company all the right, title, claim, 
and interest owned, held or possessed by 
such delinquent in the said mining claim, 
or such portion thereof as shall be suffi¬ 
cient to satisfy such delinquency; the re¬ 
maining member or members may sell the 
interest of such delinquent member in and 
to such mining claim, or so much 
of said interest as may be required to pay 
such assessment or liability, together 
wfith costs of sale. 

Sec. 6. All sales under the provisions of 
this Act shall be at public auction at the 
mining claim, and shall be made by any 
constable of the towmship, auctioneer, or 
Sheriff of the county, and by giving ten 
days’ notice thereof by posting written 
notices in three public places within the 
mining district w T here such mine is locat¬ 
ed. The notice shall also specify the ex¬ 
tent of the interest of the delinquent, and 
the amount of the delinquency, and the 
name of such delinquent member or mem¬ 
bers, at the time and place of such sale, 
which place shall be within the district 
wffiere the mine is located, and shall com¬ 
mence by offering the smallest number 
of feet or shares in such claim for sale, 
and continue selling at the same time 
and place until a sufficient number of 
feet or shares is sold to pay the delin¬ 
quent assessment or liabilities, and the 
officer selling shall execute a deed 
to the purchaser or purchasers, and such 
deed shall be received in all Courts as 
prima facie evidence of the lawful au¬ 
thority of the officer selling, and of the 
regularity of all proceedings prior to th'e 
execution of the deed, and as prima fa¬ 
cie evidence that all ttye right, title and 
interest of the party delinquent has been 
lawfully and rightfully sold and convey- 


20 


eel to the purchaser; and the purchaser’s 
title to such mining claim shall be abso¬ 
lute. 

Sec. 7. The provisions of this Act shall 
also apply to all persons who have re¬ 
fused or neglected to sign articles of in¬ 
corporation or a deed of trust in any in¬ 
corporated mining company. 

Sec. 8. An Act entitled an Act con¬ 
cerning copartnerships for mining pur¬ 
poses, approved April fourth, eighteen 
hundred and sixty-four, is hereby re¬ 
pealed. 

Sec. 9. This Act shall take effect from 
and after its passage. 


Funds therefor; and he shall require the 
Collector, on the first Monday of each 
month, to render his account of sales for 
the previous month, and to settle his ac¬ 
counts with the county therefor. 

Sec. 5. All Acts and parts of Acts in 
conflict with the provisions of this Act, 
except Acts heretofore passed granting 
the Foreign License Funds for counties 
for specific purposes, are hereby repealed; 
and in all cases of special grants, said 
licenses shall be collected in the manner 
and under the authority of this Act. 

Sec. 6. This Act shall take effect sixty 
days after its passage. 


CHAPTER CXCIV. 

An Act granting to the mining counties 
of this State the foreign miners’ tax 
collected in said counties, severally. 

[Approved March 16, 1868.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows; 

Section 1. All moneys hereafter col¬ 
lected for foreign miners’ license, except 
when otherwise especially appropriated 
by law to special use, less the percentage 
allowed for collection, shall be paid into 
the County Treasury of the county in 
which they are collected ten per cent, of 
which shall be accredited to and become 
a part of the County School Fund, and 
the remainder shall be paid into the Gen¬ 
eral Fund of said county. 

Sec. 2. Foreign miners’ licenses shall 
be hereafter issued and signed by the 
County Auditor and countersigned by the 
District Attorney of the county, and shall 

be placed in the hands of the County Col¬ 
lector for collection, in the same manner 
and under like regulations and restric¬ 
tions as are now provided by law for the 
collection of foreign miners’ licenses up¬ 
on certificates issued by the Controller of 
State. 

Sec. 5!. Tne County Auditor shall keep 
a book, in which he shall charge the col¬ 
lector with all licenses issued to him 
from time to time and credit him with 
all licenses returned and not sold by him, 
and also credit him with the percentage 
due him for collecting, and for all moneys 
paid into the County Treasury, and said 
Collector shall be accountable on his 
bond for any deficiency in his account¬ 
ing. 

Sec 4. The County Auditor shall make 
a quarterly report to the Board of Sup 
ervisors of the county, of the number of 
licenses issued to the Collector, the num¬ 
ber by him sold for each month, and the 
amount paid into the General and School 


CHAPTER CXXXVIII. 

An Act amendatory of and supplemental 
to an Act entitled an Act to provide for 
the formation of corporations for cer¬ 
tain purposes, approved April four¬ 
teenth, eighteen hundred and fifty- 
three, and the Acts amendatory thereof 
and supplemental thereto. 

[Approved March 4, 1870.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. All corporations and their 
successors, heretofore formed under the 
provisions of the Act of which this Act is 
amendatory, for the purpose of receiving 
from the members thereof and others, de¬ 
posits of money, preserving the same 
from loss, and of finding secure and prof¬ 
itable investment therefor, may receive 
deposits of money from minors and mar¬ 
ried women. 

Sec. 2. Whenever any deposits shall be 
made by any minor, the Directors of such 
Corporation may pay to such depositor 
such sums as may be due to him or her. 

Though no guardian shall have been ap¬ 
pointed by or for such minor, or the 
guardian of such minor shall not have 
authorized the drawing of the same and 
the check.receipt or acquittance of such 
minor shall be as valid as if the same was 
executed by a guardian of such minor or 
the said minor was of full age, and when¬ 
ever any deposit shall be made in her 
own name, by any woman being or there¬ 
after becoming married, said Directors 
may pay such sums as may be due to her, 
or standing to her credit on the books of 
such corporation, on her own receipt or 
acquittance, and such receipt or acquit¬ 
tance shall be as valid as if executed by 
such married woman jointly with her 
husband. And any person authorized 
thereto by reslution of the Board of 
Trustees or Directors of any corporation, 
association, or society, having funds de¬ 
posited or owning stock in any corpora¬ 
tion formed for the purposes aforesaid, 
under the Act of which this is amenda¬ 
tory, shall be entitled to receive such de¬ 
posit or transfer such stock, and to cast 
the vote of such corporation, association, 
or society. 




21 


Sec. 3. All receipts or acquittances 
heretofore executed and delivered to any 
corporation formed for the purpose afore¬ 
said, under the Act of which this Act is 
amendatory, by minors or married wom¬ 
en,, for money deposited by them in 
such corporation, or for the dividends 
thereon, shall be, and are hereby declar¬ 
ed to be as valid, legal and binding upon 
all persons as if said receipts had been 
executed by the duly appointed guardian 
of such minor, or jointly, by said married 
women with their husbands. 


CHAPTER CCLIV. 

An Act amendatory and supplemental to 
an Act entitled an Act to provide for 
the formation of corporations for cer¬ 
tain purposes, approved April four¬ 
teenth, eighteen hundred and fifty-three, 
and the Acts amendatory thereof and 
supplemetal thereto. 

[Approved March 24, 1870.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. All corporations formed under 
the provisions of the Act of which this 
Act is amendatory, for the purpose of re¬ 
ceiving from the members thereof depos¬ 
its of money and preserving the same 
from loss, and finding secure and profit¬ 
able investment therefor (whose term of 
existence, as fixed by their certificate of 
incorporation, shall have been less than 
fifty years), may at any time renew and 
extend their term of existence for such 
term as they may deem proper; Provided, 
however, that the term of such renewal 
and extension, and the term of their ex¬ 
istence, as fixed by their certificate of 
incorporation, shall not in the aggregate 
exceed fifty years. 

Sec. 2. Such renewal and extension 
may be made by filing with the County 
Clerk of the county in which the princi¬ 
pal place of business of such corporation 
is located, and a certified copy thereof 
in the office of the Secretary of State, a 
certificate stating their intention and 
election to renew and extend the term of 
their existence, and the term of such re¬ 
newal and extension; which intention and 
election may be made and declared by 
the Directors or Trustees, or acting Di¬ 
rectors or trustees of such corporation 
or corporations, or a majority thereof. 
The certificate stating such intentioin 
and election shall be signed by the Presi¬ 
dent and Secretary or Director of such 
corporation or corporations, and shall be 
acknowledged before some officer compe¬ 
tent to take the acknowledgment of 
deeds. 

Sec. 3. All Acts and parts of Acts in 
conflict with the provisions of this Act 
are hereby declared inoperative so far as 
they affect this Act. 

Sec. 4. This Act shall take effect from 
and after its passage. 


CHAPTER CDIV. 

An Act to regulate the rights of the 

owners of mines. 

[Approved April 1, 1870] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. The owner or owners of mines 
or mining claims in this State shall have 
a right of way for ingress and egress, 
for all necessary purposes, over and 
across the land or mining claims of oth¬ 
ers, as hereinafter prescribed. 

Sec. 2. Whenever any mine or mining 
claim shall be so situated that it cannot 
be conveniently worked without a road 
thereto, or a ditch to convey water there¬ 
to, or a ditch or cut to drain water there¬ 
from, or without a flume or tunnel there¬ 
to, or a place whereon to dump or depos¬ 
it tailings, and such road, ditch or drain, 
or such flume or tunnel shall necessar¬ 
ily pass over, across or through or under, 
and such place of deposit be upon min¬ 
ing claims or other lands owned or occu¬ 
pied by others, then shall such first men¬ 
tioned owner or owners be entitled to a 
right of way for such road, ditch, drain, 
flume or tunnel over, across or through or 
under, or to such place of deposit upon 
such other mining claims or lands, upon 
compliance with the provisions of 
this Act. 

Sec. 3. Whenever the owner or owners 
of any mine or mining claim shall desire 
to work the same, and it is necessary to 
enable him or them to do so convenient¬ 
ly, that he or they should have a right 
of way for any of the purposes mentioned 
in the foregoing sections, or that he or 
they should have a place for dumpage and 
deposit of tailings, as mentioned in the 
preceding section, and such right of way 
or place of deposit shall not have been 
acquired by private agreement between 
him or them and the owners or occu¬ 
pants of the claims or lands over, across, 
under or upon which he or they seek to 
establish such a right of way or place of 
deposit, then it shall be lawful for him 
or them to present to the County Court, 
or to the County Judge, if the Court be 
not in session, of the county wherein 
such mine or claims are situated, a peti¬ 
tion, praying that such right of way or 
place of deposit be awarded to him or 
them. Such petition shall be verified and 
shall contain a particular description of 
the mine or claims of the petitioners and 
of the claims or lands to be affected by 
such right or privilege, with the names 
of the owners or occupants thereof. It 
shall also show that such right or priv¬ 
ilege has not been acquired by private 
agreement or contract between the re¬ 
spective parties, and shall conclude with 
a prayer for the allowance thereof by the 
Court or Judge and the appointment of 
three Commissioners to assess the dam¬ 
ages resulting from such allowance. 



22 


Sec. 4. Upon the receipt of such peti¬ 
tion and the filing thereof in the office 
of the Clerk of the County Court, the 
Court or Judge, as the case may be, shall 
direct a citation to issue, under the seal 
of the Court, to the owners named in the 
petition, of the mining claims or lands to 
be affected by the granting of such right 
or privilege, requiring them and each of 
them to appear before such Court, or the 
Judge thereof, if the Court be not in 
session, on a day therein named, which 
shall be not less than ten days from the 
service thereof, and show cause why such 
right or privilege should not be award¬ 
ed or allowed, and such Commissioners 
appointed as prayed for. Such citation 
shall be served on each of the parties 
therein named, in the manner prescribed 
by law for the service of summons in 
ordinary proceedings at law. 

Sec. 5. Upon the day named in the cita¬ 
tion, or upon any subsequent day to 
which the hearing may be adjourned, the 
County Court, or the County Judge, if 
the Court be not in session, shall proceed 
to hear the allegations and proofs of the 
respective parties, and if satisfied that 
the claims of the petitioners can only be 
conveniently worked by means of the 
right of way, privilege, or place of de¬ 
posit, as prayed for, shall make an order 
adjudging and awarding to such petition¬ 
ers such right of way, privilege or place 
of deposit, and appointing three disinter¬ 
ested persons, residents of the county, as 
a commission to assess the damages re¬ 
sulting to the owners of mining claims 
or lands affected thereby. 

Sec. 6. The Commissioners so appoint¬ 
ed being duly sworn, shall proceed with¬ 
out delay to examine the mine or claims 
of the person or persons petitioning, as 
well as the mining claims or lands to be 
affected by the right or privilege prayed 
for. They may also bear testimony re¬ 
lative to the value of such mining claims 
or lands and the damages resulting from 
such right or privilege, and report in 
writing the result of their inquiries, to 
the Court or Judge appointing them. 
Such report shall designate the course or 
line and dimensions of the road, ditch, 
drain, flume or tunnel (as the case may 
be), or the place of deposit prayed for. 
It shall further designate the value of the 
lands to be occupied by or appropriated 
to and for such right of way or place of 
deposit, and assign the damages which 
each of the owners or occupants of min¬ 
ing claims or lands affected by such right 
or place of deposit shall suffer in conse¬ 
quence thereof. 

Sec. 7. Within ten days from the filing 
of such report, any of the parties con¬ 
cerned in the same may move, for cause 
shown by affidavit, to set aside the same; 
and if, upon the hearing of such motion, 
such Court or Judge shall set aside or va¬ 
cate such report, a new commission shall 
be appointed, which shall proceed in all 
respects as is provided for the first com¬ 
mission. If no motion to set aside the re¬ 


port of the first or any succeeding com¬ 
mission be made as provided in the last 
section, or if, being made, it is denied, 
then the same shall be regarded as final, 
and an order shall be made by the Court 
or Judge in pursuance thereof. 

Sec. 8. Upon the payment of the sum 
assessed as damages to each of the own¬ 
ers or occupants of claims or lands to 
whom the same shall have been awarded 
by the report and order mentioned in the 
preceding section, then the person or per¬ 
sons petitioning shall be entitled to the 
right of way or place of deposit, as de¬ 
signated and defined by such report, over 
or upon the land or claims of the person 
or persons receiving such compensation, 
and he or they may, upon making such 
payment, proceed to occupy the line, 
route, way or place of deposit so desig¬ 
nated, and to erect thereupon such works 
and structures, and make such excava¬ 
tions, as may be necessary to the use 
and enjoyment of the right of way or 
place of deposit so awarded. 

Sec. 9. Whenever the owner or owners 
of any mine or mining claims are desir¬ 
ous, in working the same, to carry off 
the tailings, and other refuse matter 
through and along any water course, ra¬ 
vine or natural outlet, which is in whole 
or in part owned or occupied by other 
persons for mining or other purposes, 
then such first mentioned owner or own¬ 
ers may proceed, in the manner herein¬ 
after provided, to have such right and 
privilege awarded to him or them; Pro¬ 
vided, nevertheless, that the County 
Court or Judge shall not make such 
award or appoint a commission unless 
such Court or Judge shall be satisfied 
that the right or privilege sought can 
be enjoyed without especial injury to 
those owning or occupying claims or 
lands along or upon such water course, 
ravine or outlet. 

Sec. 10. All costs and expenses shall be 
paid bj' the party making the application, 
and the Commissioners appointed shall 
receive five dollars per day for each day 
actually engaged in the service. 

Sec. 11. This Act shall take effect from 
and after its passage. 


CHAPTER CCCV. 

An Act for the protection of miners. 

[Approved March 16, 1872.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Sec. 1. It shall not be lawful for any cor¬ 
poration, association, owner, or owners 
of any quartz mining claims within the 
State of California, where such corpora¬ 
tion, association, owner, or owners em¬ 
ploy twelve men daily, to sink down into 
such mine or mines any perpendicular 
shaft or incline beyond a depth from the 
surface of three hundred feet without 
providing a second mode of egress from 



23 


such mine, by shaft or tunnel, to connect 
with the main shaft at a depth of not 
less than one hundred feet from the sur¬ 
face, 

Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of each cor¬ 
poration, association, owner, or owners 
of any quartz mine or mines in this State, 
where it becomes necessary to work such 
mines beyond the depth of three hundred 
feet, and where the number of men em¬ 
ployed therein daily shall be twelve or 
more, to proceed to sink another shaft or 
construct a tunnel so as to connect with 
the main working shaft of such mine as 
a mode of escape from underground acci¬ 
dent or otherwise. And all corporations, 
associations, owner, or owners of mines 
as aforesaid, working at a greater depth 
than three hundred feet, not having any 
other mode of egress from the main 
shaft, shall proceed as herein provided. 

Sec. 3. When any corporation, associa¬ 
tion. owner or owners of any quartz 
mine in this State shall fail to provide for 
the proper egress as herein contemplat¬ 
ed, and where any accident shall occur 
or any miner working therein shall be 
hurt or injured, and from such injury 
might have escaped if the second mode 
of egress had existed, such corporation, 
association, owner or owners of the mine 
where the injuries shall have occurred, 
shall be liable to the person injured in 
all damages that may accrue by reason 
thereof; and an action at law in a Court 
of competent jurisdiction may be main¬ 
tained against the owner or owners of 
such mine, which owners shall be joint¬ 
ly or severally liable for such damages. 
And where death shall ensue from in¬ 
juries received from any negligence on 
the part of the owners thereof by reason 
of their failure to comply w'ith any of the 
provisions of this Act, the heirs or rela¬ 
tions surviving the deceased may com¬ 
mence an action for the recovery of such 
damages as provided by an Act entitled 
an Act requiring compensation for caus¬ 
ing death by wrongful act, neglect, or 
default, approved April twenty-sixth, 
eighteen hundred and sixty-two. 

Sec. 4. This Act shall take effect and be 
in force six months after its passage. 


CHAPTER CCCXXXIV. 

An Act supplemental to an Act entitled an 
Act concerning corporations, passed 
twenty-second April, one thousand 
eight hundred and fifty. 

[Approved March 21, 1872.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. On petition of the majority 
of the shareholders of any corporation 
formed for the purpose of mining to the 
County Judge of the county where said 
corporation has its principal place of bus¬ 
iness, verified by the signers, to the ef¬ 
fect that they are severally the holders, 


on the books of the company of the num¬ 
ber of shares set opposite their signa¬ 
tures to the foregoing petition, the Coun¬ 
ty Judge shall issue his notice to the 
shareholders of said company that a 
meeting of the shareholders will be 
held, stating the time, not less 
than five nor more than ten days after 
the first publication of such notice, and 
the place of meeting within said county, 
and the object to be to take into consid¬ 
eration the removal of the officers of said 
company; which notice, signed by the said 
County Judge, shall be published daily in 
one or more daily newspapers published 
in said county for at least five days be¬ 
fore the time for the meeting. 

Sec. 2. At the time and place appointed 
by said notice those claiming to be share¬ 
holders who shall assemble shall proceed 
to organize by the appointment of a 
Chairman and Secretary, and thereupon 
those claiming to be shareholders shall 
present proof thereof, and only those 
showing a right to vote shall take part 
in the further proceedings. If it appears 
at the time appointed, or within one hour 
thereafter, shareholders of less than one- 
half the shares are present, no further 
proceedings shall be had, but the meeting 
shall be ipso facto dissolved: Provided, 
however, that by a vote of the holders of 
two-thirds of the capital stock of the cor¬ 
porations aforesaid, the Board of Trus¬ 
tees may be required to furnish to the 
meeting a written detailed statement and 
account of the affairs, business and pro¬ 
perty of the corporation; but if the hold¬ 
ers of more than two-thirds of the shares 
are present they shall proceed to vote, 
the Secretary calling the roll and the 
members voting yea or no, as the case 
may be. The Secretary shall enter the 
same upon his list, and when he has ad- 
added up the list and stated the result, he 
shall sign the same, and hand it to the 
Chairman, who shall also sign the same 
and declare tlieresult. 

Sec. 3. If the result of the vote is that 
the holders of a majority of all the 
shares of the company are in favor of 
the removal of one or more of the officers 
of the company, the meeting shall then 
proceed to ballot for officers to supply 
the vacancies thus created. Tellers shall 
be appointed by the Chairman, who shall 
collect the ballots and deliver them to 
the Secretary, w r ho shall count the same 
in open session, and having stated the re¬ 
sult of the count in writing, shall sign 
the same and hand it to the Chairman, 
who shall announce the result to the 
meeting. 

Sec. 4. A report of the proceedings 
of the meeting shall be made in writing, 
signed by the Chairman and Secretary 
and verified by them, and delivered to the 
County Judge, who shall thereupon issue 
to each person chosen a certificate of his 
election, and shall also issue an order 
requiring that all books, papers, and all 
property and effects be immediately deliv- 



24 


ered to the officers elect, and the 
petition and report, indorsed with the 
date and fact of the issuance of such cer¬ 
tificate and order, shall be delivered to 
the County Clerk to be by him filed in 
his office, and thereafter the persons thus 
elected officers shall be the duly elected 
officers and hold office until the next reg¬ 
ular annual meeting, unless removed un¬ 
der the provisions hereof. 

Sec. 5. For all services in these pro¬ 
ceedings the County Clerk shall receive 
ten dollars on the issuance of the notice 
and ten dollars on the issuance of the 
certificates. 

Sec. 6. All Acts of parts of Acts con¬ 
flicting with this Act are hereby re¬ 
pealed. 

Sec. 7. This Act shall take effect imme¬ 
diately. 


CHAPTER CCCLXIX. 

An Act to amend an Act entitled “An 
Act to provide for the formation of cor¬ 
porations for certain purposes,’’ ap¬ 
proved April fourteenth, eigtheen hun¬ 
dred and fifty-three. 

[Approved March 23, 1872.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Section two of said Act is 
hereby amended so as to read as follows: 

Section 2. Any three or more persons 
who may desire to form a company for any 
one or more of the purposes specified in 
the preceding section, may make, sign, 
and acknowledge befofe some officer com¬ 
petent to take the acknowledgment of 
deeds, and file in the office of the County 

Clerk of the county in which the princi¬ 
pal place of business of the company is 
intended to be located, and certified co¬ 
pies thereof under the hand of the Clerk 
and seal of the County Court of said 
county, in the office of the Secretary of 
State, and in the office of the Clerk of the 
several counties in which they may carry 
on their business, a certificate in writing, 
in which shall be stated the corporate 
name of the company, the object for 
which the company shall be formed, the 
amount of its capital stock, the time of 
its existence, not to exceed fifty years, 
the number of shares of which the stock 
shall consist, the number of Trustees and 
their names, who shall manage the con¬ 
cerns of the company for the first three 
months, and the names of the city, or 
town, and county in which the principal 
place of business of the company is to 
be located. 

Sec. 2. This Act shall take effect and be 
in force from and after its passage. 


CHAPTER CDXCVIII. 

An Act for the protection of coal mines 
and coal miners. 

[Approved March 27, 1874.] 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. The owner or agent of every 
coal mine shall make, or cause to be 
mad* 3 , an accurate map or plan of the 
workings of such coal mine on a scale of 
one hundred feet to the inch. 

Sec. 2. A true copy of w r hich map or 
plan shall be kept at the office of the 
owner or owners of the mine, open to the 
infection of all persons, and one copy of 
simh map or plan shall be kept at the 
mines by the agent or other person hav¬ 
ing charge of the mines, open to the in¬ 
spection of the workmen. 

Sec. 3. The owner or aerent of every, 
coal mine shall provide at least two shafts 
or slopes, or outlets, separated by natur¬ 
al strata of not less than one hundred 
and fifty feet in breadth, by which shafts, 
slopes, or outlets, distinct means of in¬ 
gress and egress are always available to 
the persons employed in the coal mine; 
Provided, that if a new tunnel, slope, or 
shaft wall be required by the additional 
opening, work upon the same shall com¬ 
mence immediately after the passage of 
this Act and continue until its final com¬ 
pletion, with reasonable dispatch. 

Sec. 4. The owner or agent of every 
coal mine shall provide and establish for 
every such mine an adequate amount of 
ventilation, of not less than fifty-five cu¬ 
bic feet per second of pure air, or thirty- 
three hundred feet per minute for every 
fifty men at work in such mine, and as 
much more as circumstances may re¬ 
quire, which shall be circulated through 
to the face of each and every working 
place throughout the entire mine, to di¬ 
lute and render harmless and expel there¬ 
from the noxious, poisonous gases, to 
such an extent that the entire mine shall 
be in a fit state for men to work therein, 
and be free from danger to the health 
and lives of the men by reason of said 
noxious and poisonous gases, and all 
workings shall be kept clear of standing 
gas. 

Sec. 5. To secure the ventilation of ev¬ 
ery coal mine, and provide for the health 
and safety of the men employed therein, 
otherwise and in every respect, the owner 
or agent, as the case may be, in charge 
of every coal mine, shall employ a com¬ 
petent and practical inside Overseer, who 
shall keep a careful watch over the ven¬ 
tilating apparatus, over the air ways, the 
travelling ways, the pumps and sumps, 
the timbering, to see, as the miners ad¬ 
vance in their excavations, that all loose 
coal, slate, or rock, overhead is carefully 
secured against falling; over the arrang- 
ments for signaling from the bottom to 



the top, and from the top to the bottom 
of the shaft or slope, and all things con¬ 
nected with and appertaining to the safe¬ 
ty of the men at work in the mine. He or 
his assistants shall examine carefully the 
workings of all mines generating explo¬ 
sive gases, every morning before the 
miners enter, and shall ascertain that the 
mine is free from danger, and the work¬ 
men shall not enter the mine until such 
examination has been made and reported, 
and the cause of danger, if any, be re¬ 
moved. 

Sec. 6. The Overseer shall see that the 
hoisting machinery is kept constantly in 
repair and ready for use, to hoist the 
workmen in or out of the mine. 

Sec. 7. The word, “owner” in this Act 
shall apply to lessee as well. 

Sec. 8. For any injury to person or pro¬ 
perty occasioned by any violation of this 
Act, or any wilful failure to comply with 
its provisions, a right of action shall 
accrue to the party injured for any di¬ 
rect damages he or she may have sus¬ 
tained thereby, before any Court of com¬ 
petent jurisdiction. 

Sec. 9. For any wilful failure or neg¬ 
ligence on the part of any Overseer of 
any coal mine, he shall be liable to con¬ 
viction of misdemeanor and punished ac¬ 
cording to law: Provided, that if such 
wilful failure or negligence is the cause 
of the death of any person the Overseer, 
upon conviction, shall be deemed guilty of 
manslaughter. 

Sec. 10. All boilers used for generating 
steam in and about coal mines shall be 
kept in good order, and the owner or 
agent thereof shall have them examined 
and inspected, by a competent boilermak¬ 
er, as often as once in three months. 

Sec. 11. This Act shall not apply to 
opening a new coal mine. 

Sec. 12. This Act shall take effect im¬ 
mediately. 


CHAPTEiR DXXXI. 

An Act regulating the sale of mineral 
lands belonging to the State. 

[Approved March 2S, 1S74.] 

The People of the State of California re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Any person desiring to pur¬ 
chase from this State any portion of am r 
sixteenth or thirty-sixth section, that 
shall have been designated by United 
States survey as of a mineral character, 
or which is so in fact, shall make an affi¬ 
davit before some officer authorized to 
administer oaths, that he or she is a cit 
izen of the United States, or, if a for¬ 
eigner, that he has filed his intention to 
become a citizen of the United States; 


that he or she is of lawful age, and de¬ 
sires to purchase said land, giving a de¬ 
scription thereof by legal subdivisions; 
that he or she has not entered any por¬ 
tion of such mineral lands, which, togeth¬ 
er with that applied for in such affidavit, 
will exceed forty acres; that there is no 
occupation of said land adverse to that 
which he or she holds, or, if there be any 
adverse occupation thereof, then he or 
she must state the name of such adverse 
occupant, together with the fact that the 
plat of the township has been on file six 
months or over, and that such adverse 
occupant has been in such occupation six 
months or over. 

Sec. 2. Any person that shall be in the 
actual possession of any of said lands de¬ 
scribed in section one, at the time of the 
survey thereof by the United States, or 
at the time of the passage of this Act, 
shall be considered a preferred purchaser 
thereof; Provided, that he or she make 
his or her application for the purchase 
of the same within six months after the 
filing of the plat of such survey in the 
United States Land Office, or within ten 
months after the passage of this Act. 

Sec. 3. When a contest shall arise as 
to the mineral character of the lands ap¬ 
plied for, or from any other cause, the 
Surveyor General, or the Register before 
whom the contest is made, must, within 
thirty days after the adverse application 
is filed, unless sooner referred, at the re¬ 
quest of either claimant, make an order 
referring such contest to the District 
Court of the county within which the land 
is situated, and must enter such order in 
the proper book of his office, and forward 
a copy thereof to the Clerk of the Court 
to which the reference is made. Upon 
the filing of a copy of such order with 
the Clerk of the Court, either party may 
commence an action in said Court to de¬ 
termine the conflict, and the Court shall 
have full and complete jurisdiction to 
hear and determine the same. Unless an 
action shall be commenced within ninety 
days after the copy of the order of ref¬ 
erence shall have been filed with the 
Clerk of the Court, the party making 
such demand or the adverse claimant, ir 
the case is referred without demand, 
shall be deemed to have waived and sur¬ 
rendered his or her right to purchase, 
and the Surveyor General or Register 
shall proceed as though his or her appli¬ 
cation had not been made. 

Sec. 4. All lands sold under the pro¬ 
visions of this Act shall be sold for the 
sum of two dollars and fifty cents per 
acre, in United States gold coin, payable 
to the Treasurer of the County in which 
the lands are situated, within fifty days 
from the date of the approval by the Sur- 
veyer General; and in case said payment 
is not made within said fifty days, the 
land described in the location shall revert 
to the State without suit, and said loca¬ 
tion shall be and become null and void. 
All payments made to the County Treas¬ 
urer as above provided, shall be paid ov- 



26 


er and accounted for as other moneys re¬ 
ceived for State lands are required to be 
paid over and accounted for. 

Sec. 5. The Surveyor General and Reg¬ 
ister shall, in the matter of approving 
locations, issuing certificates of purchase 
or patents, or in any other proceedings 
relating to the sale of lands of a mineral 
character, which proceedings are not pro¬ 
vided for in this Act, proceed in the 
same manner as is now provided for in 
the sale of sixteenth and thirty-sixth sec¬ 
tions which are not of a mineral charac¬ 
ter. 

Sec. 6. All patents issued by the State 
to any portion of any sixteenth or thirty- 
sixth section, shall be subject to any vest¬ 
ed and accrued water rights, ditches and 
reservoirs, used in connection therewith, 
acquired by priority of possession under 
local customs, and the decisions of the 
Courts, and the right of way for the con¬ 
struction of ditches and canals, for min¬ 
ing and other purposes, over all of the 
sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections owned 
by the State, is hereby granted and con¬ 
firmed. 

Sec. 7. After the passage of this Act, 
no patent shall be issued by the' State 
for any of the lands described in this 
Act, upon which, at the time of the appli¬ 
cation therefor, there was and still is any 
actual bona fide mining claim, except to 
the person who is the owner of such min¬ 
ing claim, under local mining customs, 
and not to such owner in excess of forty 
acres; and when an applicant for such 
lands, not owning such mining claim, 
shall have paid the purchase money 
therefor, in whole or in part, he may pre¬ 
sent his certificate of purchase and re¬ 
ceive in exchange therefor, from the 
Register, a certificate showing the whole 
amount paid; and the Controller,upon the 
surrender of such certificate, must draw 
his warrant in favor of the person sur¬ 
rendering such certificate, for the amount 
therein specified, on the Treasurer of 
State, who must pay the same out of the 
Fund into which the purchase money 
was paid; Provided,that the owner of 
such mining claim, under such mining 
customs, shall apply to purchase the 
same within six months after the plat of 
the township containing such land shall 
have been filed in the local United States 
Land Office,or within ten months after the 
passage of this Act, and, Provided furth¬ 
er that any owner of a bona fide min¬ 
ing claim who shall have entered into an 
agreement with the applicant for any 
portion of the sixteenth of thirty-sixth 
section upon which said mining claim is 
situated, for a procurement of a title for 
the same, shall not avail himself of the 
provisions of this section. The Governor 
of this State shall not sign any patent 
contrary to the provisions of this Act. 

Sec. 8. All Acts and parts of Acts in 
conflict with this Act are hereby re¬ 
pealed. 

Sec. 9. This Act shall take effect and 
be in force from and after its passage. 


CHAPTER DCXXVII. 

An Act for the better protection of Stock¬ 
holders in corporations, formed under 
the laws of the State of California, for 
the purpose of carrying on and con¬ 
ducting the business of mining. 

[Approved March 30, 1874.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. It shall be the duty of the 
Secretary of every corporation formed 
under the laws of the State of California, 
for the purpose of mining, to keep the 
books of such corporation as prescribed 
by its bylaws; Provided, such bylaw r s are 
not inconsistent with the laws of this 
State. The books of such corporation 
shall be produced for examination and 
inspection during the hours of business 
every day in the year, Sundays and legal 
holidays excepted, upon the demand of 
any stockholder holding and presenting 
a certificate of stock in such corporation, 
either in his own name or properly en¬ 
dorsed and the Secretary of such corpor¬ 
ation shall be required, upon the demand 
of any stockholder holding stock in such 
corporation to the amount of five hun¬ 
dred dollars, par value, to have the books 
of the corporation written up at the end 
of each month, and shall make out a bal¬ 
ance sheet, showing the correct financial 
condition of the corporation; and on or 
before the tenth day of January and July, 
of each year, he shall make out a written 
statement, showing all the business and 
financial transactions of the corporation 
for the six months preceeding, which 
statement shall also contain a full de¬ 
scription of all property of the corpora¬ 
tion, and the character and extent of the 
same; and such statements, together with 
all papers and records of the corpor¬ 
ation, shall be open to examination and 
inspection upon any demand by such 
stockholder. All demands of stockhold¬ 
ers, as specified in this section, shall be 
made to the Secretary, at the office of the 
corporation where its principal place of 
business is located. 

Sec. 2. Any owner of stock of the par 
value of five hundred dollars, in any of 
the corporations mentioned in section one 
of this Act, shall, at all hours of business 
or labor on or about the premises or 
property of such corporation, have the 
right to enter upon such property and 
examine the same, either on the surface 
or underground. And it is hereby made 
the duty of any and all officers, managers, 
agents, superintendents, or persons in 
charge, to allow any such stockholder to 
enter upon and examine any of th^ pro¬ 
perty of such corporation at any time 
during the hours of business or labor; 
and the presentations of certificates of 
stock in the corporation of the par value 
of five hundred dollars, to the officer or 
person in charge shall be prima facie evi¬ 
dence of ownership and right to enter up- 


27 


on or into, and make examinations of 
the property of the corporation. 

Sec. 3. The violations of any of the 
provisions of sections one and two of this 
Act shall subject the Trustees of the cor¬ 
poration to a fine of two hundred dollars, 
and costs of suit, and the expenses of 
stockholders so refused, in traveling to 
and from the property, which may be re¬ 
covered in any court of competent juris¬ 
diction, either in the county where the 
property is situated or the county where 
the office and principal place of business 
of the corporation is situated, which said 
fine shall be imposed and collected for 
and paid over to the person so refused, 
together with all moneys collected for 
the said traveling expenses. 

Sec. 4. All Acts in conflict with the pro¬ 
viso ns of this Act are hereby repealed. 


CHAPTER XLV. 

An Act to amend an Act entitled “An Act 
regulating the sale of mineral lands be¬ 
longing to the State.” approved March 
twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and 
seventy-four. 

[Approved February 3, 1876.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Section two of said Act is 
hereby amended so as to read as follows: 

Section 2. Any person that shall be in 
the actual possession of any of said 
lands, described in section one, at the 
time of the survey thereof by the United 
States, or at the time of the passage of 
this Act, shall be considered a preferred 
purchaser thereof to the extent of his or 
her mining claim, provided he or she 
make application for the purchase of the 
same on or before the first day of Jan¬ 
uary, eighteen hundred and seventy-sev¬ 
en, if the plat of such survey be already 
filed in the United States Land Office; and 
if not so filed, then within six months 
after the filing of such plat, as afore¬ 
said. 

Sec. 2. Section seven of said Act is 
hereby amended so as to read as fol¬ 
lows: Section 7. After the passage of 
this Act, no patent shall be issued for 
any of the lands described in this Act 
upon which, at the time of the applica¬ 
tion therefor, there was and still is any 
actual bona fide mining claim, except to 
the person who is the owner of such min¬ 
ing claim under local mining customs; 
and when an applicant for such lands, 
not owning such mining claim, shall have 
paid the purchase money therefor, in 
whole or in part, he may present his cer¬ 
tificate of purchase and receive in ex¬ 
change therefor, from the Register, a 
certificate showing the whole amount 
paid and the Controller, upon the sur¬ 
render of such certinficate, must draw his 
warrant in favor of the person surrender¬ 
ing such certificate, for the amount 
therein specified, on the Treasurer of the 


State, who must pay the sum out of the 
fund into which the purchase money was 
paid; Provided, that the owner of such 
mining claim, under such miniing cus¬ 
toms, shall apply to purchase the same 
within six months after the plat of the 
township containing such land shall have 
been filed in the local United States 
Land Office, on or before the first day of 
January, eighteen hundred and seventy- 
seven; and, Provided further, that any 
owner of a bona fide mining claim w r ho 
shall have entered into an agreement 
with the applicant for any portion of six¬ 
teenth or thirty-sixth section upon which 
said mining claim is situated, for the pro¬ 
curement of a title for the same, shall 
not avail himself of the provisions of this 
section. The Governor of this State 
shall not sign any patent contrary to the 
provisions of this Act. 

Sec. 3. All Acts and parts of Acts in 
conflict with this Act are hereby repealed. 

Sec. 4. This Act shall take effect and 
be in force from.and after its passage. 


CHAPTER CDLXXXIX. 

An Act to amend an Act entitled “An Act 
supplemental to an Act entitled an Act 
concerning corporations, passed April 
twenty-second, one thousand, eight hun¬ 
dred and fifty,” approved March twen¬ 
ty-first, eighteen hundred and seventy- 
two. 

[Approved April 1, 1876.] 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Section one of said Act is 
hereby amended so as to read as follows: 

Section 2. At the time and place ap¬ 
pointed by said notice, those claiming to 
be shareholders, who shall assemble 
shall proceed to organize by the appoint¬ 
ment of a Chairman and Secretary, and 
thereupon those claiming to be share¬ 
holders shall present proof thereof, and 
only those showing a right to vote shall 
take part in the further proceedings. If 
it appears that at the time appointed, 
or within one hour thereafter, share¬ 
holders of less than one-half the shares 
are present, no further proceedings shall 
be had; but the meeting shall be ipso 
facto dissolved; Provided, however, that 
by a vote of the holders of the majority 
of the capital stock of the corporation 
aforesaid, the Board of Trustees may be 
required to furnish to the meeting a writ¬ 
ten detailed statement and account of the 
affairs, business, and property of the 
corporation: but if the holders of a ma¬ 
jority of the shares are present they shall 
proceed to vote, the Secretary calling the 
roll and the members voting yea or no. 
as the case may be. 

The Secretary shall enter the same up¬ 
on his list, and when he has added up the 
list and stated the result, he shall sign 
the same and hand it to the Chairman, 




28 


who shall sign the same and declare the 
result. 

Sec. 2. All Acts or parts of Acts con¬ 
flicting with this Act are hereby re¬ 
pealed. 

Sec. 3. This Act shall take effect and 
be in force from and after its passage. 


CHAPTER DLXII. 

An Act to regulate the recording of 
mining locations in Calaveras County. 

[Approved April 3, 1876.] 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. A copy of the notice of loca¬ 
tion of any mining claim hereafter lo¬ 
cated in the County of Calaveras shall 
be filed and recorded in the office of the 
County Recorder of said county within 
six days from the date of posting said 
notice of location, notwithstanding any 
rule, regulation, or by-law of any mining 
district in said county. 

Sec. 2. Whenever any notice of loca¬ 
tion is posted without being recorded, as 
provided in section one of this Act, such 
location shall not be considered notice to 
subsequent locations recording under 
this Act. 


CHAPTER CDLXXXI. 

An Act creating a Board of Bank Com¬ 
missioners and prescribing their du¬ 
ties and powers. 

[Approved March 30, 1878.] 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Sec. 8. No savings bank shall receive 
the license in this Act provided for, un¬ 
less at least fifty per cent, of all its loans 
shall be secured by first mortgage, or 
other prior lien, upon real estates situated 
within this State; such loans, at the date 
when made, hereafter, not to exceed 
sixty per cent, of the market value of 
the security, except made for the pur¬ 
pose of facilitating the sale of property 
owned by the corporation. And it shall 
be unlawful for any savings and loan so¬ 
ciety, or savings bank, to purchase, in¬ 
vest, or loan its capital, or the money of 

its depositors, or any part of either, in 
mining shares or stocks. Any President 
or managing officer who knowingly con¬ 
sents to a violation of the above pro¬ 
vision shall be deemed guilty of a fel¬ 
ony. 


CHAPTER CXVII. 

An Act to promote drainage. 

[Approved March 23, 1880.] 

The People of the State of California, 

represented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Sec. 19. The owner, or owners, or the 
managing agent of every hydraulic mine, 
or any mine using water to wash the 
earth or ores for mining purposes, which 
mine may be embraced in whole or in 
part within any drainage district to be 
formed or organized under this Act, and 
of all mines the waters from which car¬ 
rying slickens, sand, or debris therefrom 
runs into any district, shall, on or be¬ 
fore the first day of July, A. D. eighteen 
hundred and eighty, and every year 
thereafter at the time required for ren¬ 
dering a statement to the Assessor for 
the purpose of assessing for State and 
county taxes, render to the Assessor of 
the county in which the mime is located, 
a sworn statement showing the number 
of miners’ inches of water (of twenty- 
four hours’ run) used by the mine, of 
which he is in whole or in part owner 
or the managing agent, for the preceding 
year ending on the first day of March 
next preceding the rendition of such 
statement. The statement shall include 
also the name and description of the 
mine. Upon the receipt of such statement 
from the owner or managing agent of 
such mines, the Assessor shall enter the 
same, in a separate column, in the du¬ 
plicate assessment book provided for 
this Act, so that it will show the number 
of miners’ inches of water (of each 
twenty-four hours’ run) used by each of 
such mines within the county for which 
he is Assessor. 

Sec. 20. The Board of Directors shall, 
at the same time in October of each year 
that they levy the tax hereinbefore pro¬ 
vided for, levy an assessment upon all 
hydraulic mines and upon all mines 
washing earth or ores with water running 
into the district, of one-half of one per 
cent, for each miners’ inch of water of 
each twenty-four hours’ run, used du¬ 
ring such year, and shall notify the Audi¬ 
tor of each county embraced in whole 
or in part in the district, of the amount 
so levied, and he shall compute and en¬ 
ter upon the duplicate assessment book 
the respective sums to be collected from 
the respective mines; and the Tax Col¬ 
lector shall collect said assessment at 
the same time and in the same manner 
that they collect State and county taxes; 
and the money so collected shall be paid 
over in the same nanner and at the 
same time as herein provided for the col¬ 
lection of taxes, and the State Treasurer 
shall place the same to the credit of the 
“Construction Fund’’ of the proper dis¬ 
trict. 




29 


CHAPTER XXXVII. 

An Act to amend an Act entitled an Act 
regulating the sale of mineral lands be¬ 
longing to the State, approved March 
twenty-eight, eighteen hundred and 
seventy-four. 

[Approved April 6, 1880.] 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Section three of “An Act reg¬ 
ulating the sale of mineral lands belonging 
to the State, approved March twenty- 
eighth, eighteen hundred and seventy- 
four’’ is hereby amended so as to read as 
follows: 

Section 3. When a contest shall arise 
as to the mineral character of the lands 
applied for, or from any other cause, the 
Surveyor-General, or the Register before 
whom the contest is made, must, within 
thirty days, after the adverse application 
is filed, unless sooner referred, at the 
request of either claimant, make an or¬ 
der referring such contest to the Superior 
Court of the county within which the 
land is situated, and must enter such or¬ 
der in the proper book of his office and 
forward a copy thereof to the Clerk of 
the Court to which the reference is made. 
Upon the filing of a copy of such order 
with the Clerk of the Court, either party 
may commence an action in said Court 
to determine the conflict, and the Court 
shall have full and complete jurisdiction 
to hear and determine the same. Unless 
an action shall be commenced within 
ninety days after the copy of the order 
of reference shall have been filed with 
the Clerk of the Court, the party making 
such demand or the adverse claimant, if 
the case is referred without demand, 
shall be deemed to have waived and sur¬ 
rendered his or her right to purchase, 
and the Surveyor-General or Register 
shall proceed as though his or her appli¬ 
cation had not been made. 

Sec. 2. This Act shall take effect and 
be in force from and after its passage. 


CHAPTER CXXI. 

An Act amendatory of an Act entitled 
“An Act for the better protection of the 
stockholders in corporations, formed un¬ 
der the laws of the State of California, 
for the purpose of carrying on and con¬ 
ducting the business of mining.” ap¬ 
proved March thirtieth, eighteen hun¬ 
dred and seventy-four. 

(Approved April 23, 1880.) 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Section one of said Act is 
hereby amended so as to read as follows: 


Section 1. It shall be the duty of the 
Secretary of every corporation, formed 
under the laws of this State for the pur¬ 
pose of mining, to keep a complete set 
of books, showing all receipts and expen¬ 
ditures of such corporation, the source 
of such receipts, and the object of such 
expenditures, and also all transfers of 
stock. All books and papers shall at 
all times, during business hours, be open 
to the inspection of any bona fide stock¬ 
holder; and if any stockholder shall at 
any time so request, it shall be the duty 
of the Secretary to attend at the office of 
said company at least one hour in the 
day out of regular business hours, and 
exhibit such books and papers of the 
company as such stockholder may desire, 
who shall be entitled to be accompanied 
by an expert; and he shall also be en¬ 
titled to make copies or extracts from 
any such books or papers. It shall be the 
duty of the Directors on the first Monday 
of each and every month, to cause to be 
made an itemized account or balance 
sheet for the previous month, embracing 
a full and complete statement of all dis¬ 
bursements and receipts, showing from 
what sources such receipts were 
derived and for what and to 
whom such disbursements or pay¬ 
ments were made, and for what object 
or purpose the same were made; also all 
indebtedness or liabilities incurred or 
existing at the time, and for what the 
same were incurred, and the balance of 
money, if any, on hand. Such account or 
balance sheet shall be verified under 
oath by the President and Secretary, 
and posted in some conspicuous place in 
the office of the company. It shall be the 
duty of the Superintendent, on the first 
Monday of each month, to file with the 
Secretary an itemized account, verified 
under oath, showing all receipts and dis¬ 
bursements made by him for the previ¬ 
ous month, and for what said disburse¬ 
ments were made. It shall also be the 
duty of the Superintendent to file with 
the Secretary a weekly statement, under 
oath, showing the number of men em¬ 
ployed under him and for what pur¬ 
pose, and the rate of wages paid to 
each one. He shall attach to such ac¬ 
count a full and complete report, under 
oath, of the work done on said mine, the 
amount of ore extracted, from what 
part of the mine taken, the amount sent 
to min for reduction, its assay value, 
the amount of bullion received, the 
amount of bullion shipped to the office 
of the company or elsewhere, and the 
amount, if any, retained by the Super¬ 
intendent. It shall also be his duty to 
forward to the office of the company a 
full report, under oath, of all discoveries 
of ores or mineral-bearing quartz made 
in said mine, whether by boring, drift¬ 
ing, sinking or otherwise, together with 
the assay value thereof. All accounts, re¬ 
ports and correspondence from the Su¬ 
perintendent shall be kept in some con¬ 
spicuous place in the office of said com- 



CHAPTER CXVIII. 


pany, and be open to the inspection of all 
stockholders. 

Sec. 2. Section two of said Act is here¬ 
by amended so as to read as follows: 

Section 2. Any bona fide stockholder of 
a corporation formed under the laws of 
this State for the purpose of mining’, 
shall be entitled to visit, accompanied by 
his expert, and examine the mine or 
mines owned by such corporation, and 
every part thereof, at any time he may 
see fit to make such visit and examina¬ 
tion; and when such stockholder shall 
make application to the President of 
such corporation, he shall immediately 
cause the Secretary thereof to issue and 
deliver to such applicant an order, under 
the seal of the corporation, directed to 
the Superintendent, commanding him to 
show and exhibit such parts of said mine 
or mines, as the party named in said 
order may desire to visit and examine. 
It shall be the duty of the Superintend¬ 
ent, on receiving such order, to furnish 
such stockholder every facility for mak¬ 
ing a full and complete inspection of said 
mine or mines, and of the workings there¬ 
in; it shall be his duty also to accompany 
said stockholder, either in person, or to 
furnish some person familiar with said 
mine or mines to accompany him in his 
visit to and through such mine or mines, 
and every part thereof. In case of the 
failure or refusal of the Superintendent 
to obey such order, such stockholder shall 
be entitled to recover, in any Court of 
competent jurisdiction, against said cor¬ 
poration, the sum of one thousand dollars 
and traveling expenses to and from said 
mine as liquidated damages, together 
with costs of suit. In case of such re¬ 
fusal, it shall be the duty of the Direct¬ 
ors of such corporation forthwith to re¬ 
move the officer so refusing, and there¬ 
after he shall not be employed directly 
or indirectly by such corporation, and 
no salary shall be paid to him. 

Sec. 3. Section three of said Act is 
hereby amended so as to read as follows: 

Section 3. In case of the refusal or 
neglect of the President to cause to be 
issued by the Secretary the order in the 
second section of this Act mentioned, such 
stockholder shall be entitled to recover 
against said President the sum of one 
thousand dollars and costs, as provided in 
the last section. In case of the failure of 
the Directors to have the reports and ac¬ 
counts current made and posted as in the 
first section of this Act provided, they 
shall be liable, either severally or jointly, 
to an action by any stockholder in any 
Court of competent jurisdiction complain¬ 
ing thereof, and on proof of such refusal 
or failure, such complaining stockholder 
shall recover judgment for one thousand 
dollars liquidated damages, with costs of 
suit. 

Sec. 4. All Acts and parts of Acts, so 
far as they do conflict with this Act, are 
hereby repealed. 

Sec. 5. This Act shall take effect from 
and after its passage. 


An Act for the further protection of 

stockholders in mining companies. 

[Approved April 23d, 1880.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. It shall not be lawful for the 
Directors of any mining corporation 
to sell, lease, mortgage, or other¬ 
wise dispose of the whole or any part 
of the mining ground owned or x,<?ld by 
such corporation, nor to pm chase or ob¬ 
tain, in any way, any additional mining 
ground, unless such act “De ratified oy the 
holders of at least two-thirds of the cap¬ 
ital stock of such corporation, touch rati¬ 
fication may be made either in waiting, 
signed and acknowledged by suci stock¬ 
holders, or by resolution, duly passed at a 
stockholders’ meeting called for that pur¬ 
pose. 

Sec. 2. All stock in each and every min¬ 
ing corporation in this State shall stand 
in the books of said company, in all cases, 
in the names of the real owners of such 
stock, or in the name of the Trustees of 
such real owners; but in every case 
where such stock shall stand in the name 
of a Trustee, the party for whom he holds 
such stock in trust shall be designated 
upon said books, and also in the body of 
the certificate of such stock. 

Sec. 3. It shall not be lawful for any 
such corporation, or the Scretary there¬ 
of,to close the books of said corporation, 
more than two days prior to the day of 
any election. At such election the stock ot 
said corporation shall be voted by the 
bona fide owners thereof, as shown by the 
books of said corporation, unless the cer¬ 
tificate of stock, duly endorsed, be pro¬ 
duced at such election, in which case said 
certificates shall be deemed the highest 
evidence of ownership, and the holder 
thereof shall be entitled to vote the same. 

Sec. 4. All Acts and parts of Acts in 
conflict with this Act are hereby repealed. 

Sec. 5. This Aca shall take effect from 
and after its passage. 


CHAPTER L.III. 

An Act to amend the Political Code of 
the State of California, relating to rev¬ 
enue, by adding a new section, to be 
known as Section 3608 of said Code. 

[Approved March 7, 1881.] 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 2. A new section is hereby ad¬ 
ded to the said Code, to be known as 
section three thousand six hundred and 
eight, and to read as follows: 

Sec. 3608. Shares of stock in corpora¬ 
tions possess no intrinsic value over and 



31 


above the actual value of the property 
of the corporation which they stand for 
and represent, and the assessment and 
taxation of such shares, and also of the 
corporate property, would be double tax¬ 
ation. Therefore, all property belonging 
to corporations shall be assessed and 
taxed, but no assessment shall be made 
of shares of stock, nor shall any holder 
thereof be taxed therefor. [Took effect 
from passage.] 


CHAPTER LiXXII. 

An Act to provide a State Hospital and 

Asylum for Miners. 

[Approved March 14, 1881.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1.There shall be erected as soon 
as conveniently may be, upon some suit¬ 
able site, to be determined and obtained 
as hereinafter provided, a public hospi¬ 
tal and asylum, for the reception, care, 
medical and surgical treatment, and re¬ 
lief of the sick, injured, disabled, and 
aged miners, which shall be known as the 
“California State Miners’ Hospital and 
Asylum.” 

Sec. 2. The Governor shall nominate, 
and by and with the advice and consent 
of the Senate, appoint five persons to 
serve as Trustees of the said institution, 
who shall be a body politic and corporate, 
by the name and style of the “Trustees of 
the California State Miners’ Hospital and 
Asylum,” and shall manage and direct 
the concerns of the institution, and make 
all necessary by-laws and regulations,and 
shall have power to receive, hold, dispose 
of, and convey all real and personal prop¬ 
erty conveyed to them by gift, devise oi 
otherwise for the use of said institution, 
and shall serve without compensation. Of 
those first appointed, two shall serve for 
two years, and three for four years, and 
at the expiration of the respective terms, 
each class thereafter shall be appointed 
for four years. A vacancy in said Board, 
from any cause, shall be filled by ap¬ 
pointment by the Governor, for the unex¬ 
pired term. 

Sec. 3. The said Trustees shall ha.ve 
charge of the general interests of the in¬ 
stitution; they shall appoint the Superin¬ 
tendent, who shall be a skillful physician 
and surgeon, .subject to removal or re- 
election no oftener than in periods of ten 
years, except by infidelity to the trust ie- 
posed in him, or for incompetency. 

Sec. 4. The Trustees, by and with the 
consent of the Governor, shall make such 
bv-laws and regulations for the govern¬ 
ment of the institution as shall be neces¬ 


sary; they shall appoint a Treasurer, who 
shall give bonds to the people of the State 
of California for the faithful discharge of 
his duties; and they shall fix the com¬ 
pensation of all officers, assistants, and 
attaches, who may be necessary for the 
just and economical administration of 
the affairs of said institution. 

Sec. 5. Indigent miners shall be charged 
for medical attendance, surgical opera¬ 
tions, board, and nursing while residents 
in the hospital and asylum, no more than 
the actual cost; paying patients, whose 
friends can pay their expenses, and who 
are not chargeable upon townships and 
counties, shall pay according to the terms 
directed by the Trustees. 

Sec. 6. The several Boards of Supervi¬ 
sors of counties, or any constituted au¬ 
thority in the State having care and 
charge of any indigent, sick, or aged per¬ 
son or persons, if satisfactorily proven by 
them to have been miners, shall have au¬ 
thority to send to the “California State 
Miners’ Hospital and Asylum”suchpersons 
and they shall be severally chargeable with 
the expenses of the care, maintenance, 
and treatment, and removal to and from 
the hospital and asylum of such patients. 

Sec. 7. The Trustees shall, annually, at 
such time as the Governor may designate, 
report to him, for transmission to the 
Legislature, such a statement as he may 
require as to the management of the 
said hospital and asylum. 

Sec. 8. This Act shall take effect im¬ 
mediately. 


CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

An Act to provide for analyzing the min¬ 
erals, mineral waters, and other liquids, 
and the medical plants of the State of 
California, and of foods and drugs, to 
prevent the adulteration of the same. 

[Approved March 9, 1SS5.] 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. The Governor of the State 
of California shall appoint one of the 
Professors of the State University of 
California of sufficient competence, 
knowledge, skill and experience, as State 
Analyst, whose duty it shall be to ana¬ 
lyze all articles of food, drugs, medicines, 
medical plants, minerals, and mineral wa 
ters, and other liquids or solids which 
shall be manufactured, sold, or used 
within this State, when submitted to him, 
as hereinafter provided. 

Sec. 2. The State Board of Health and 
Vital Statistics, or medical officers of 




32 


health of any city, town, or of any city 
and county, or county, may, at the cost 
of their respective Boards or corpora¬ 
tions, purchase a sample of any food, 
drugs, medicine, medicinal plants, min¬ 
eral waters, or other liquids offered for 
sale in any town, village, or city in this 
State, and submit it to the State Analyst, 
as hereinafter provided; and said Analyst 
shall, upon receiving such article duly 
submitted to him, forthwith analyze the 
same, and give a certified certificate to 
the Secretary of the State Board of 
Health submitting the same, wherein he 
shall fully specify the result of the anal¬ 
ysis; and the certificate of the State An¬ 
alyst shall be held in all the Courts of 
this State as prima facie evidence of the 
properties of the articles analyzed by 
him. 

Sec. 3. Any person desiring an analy¬ 
sis of any food, drug, medicine, medici¬ 
nal plant, soil, mineral water, or other li¬ 
quid, shall submit the same to the Sec¬ 
retary of the State Board of Health, to* 
gether with a written statement of the 
circumstances under which he procured 
the article to be analyzed, which state¬ 
ment must, if required by him, be veri-> 
fied by oath, and it shall be the duty of 
the Secretary of the State Board of 
Health to transmit the same to the 
State Analyst, the expenses thereof to be 
defrayed by the said Board. 

Sec. 4. The State Analyst shall report 
to the State Board of Health the number 
of all the articles analyzed, and shall 
specify the results thereof to said Board 
annually, with full statement of all the 
articles analyzed, and by whom submit¬ 
ted. 

Sec. 5. The State Board of Health may 
submit to the State Analyst any samples 
of food, drugs, medicines, medicinal 
plants, mineral waters, or other liquids, 
for analysis, as hereinbefore provided. 

Sec. 6. It shall be competent for the 
Mineralogist of the State of California 
to submit to the State Analyst any min¬ 
erals of which he desires an analysis to 
be made; Provided, that the cost of the 
same shall be defrayed by the Mineral- 
ogical Bureau. 

Sec. 7. The Board of State Viticultural 
Commissioners shall have the same priv¬ 
ileges as are provided for the State Board 
of Health under this Act, with respect to 
samples of wines and grape spirits, and 
of all liquids and compounds in imitation 
thereof, and any person or persons de¬ 
siring analyses of such products, shall 
submit the same to the Secretary of the 
Board of State Viticultural Commission¬ 
ers, and the same shall be transmitted to 
the State Analyst, in the manner pre¬ 
scribed in section three of this Act. The 
analyses shall be made, and the certifi¬ 
cates of the State Analyst shall be for¬ 
warded to the Secretary of the said 
Board of State Viticultural Commission¬ 
ers, and shall have the same force and 
effect as provided for in section two of 
this Act, with respect to analyses made 
for the State Board of Health. 


CHAPTER CLV. 

An Act relating to the w r orking, rights of 
way, easement, and drainage of mines 
in the State of California. 

[Approved March 31, 1891.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Whenever any mine owner 
company or corporation shall have per¬ 
formed the labor and made the improve¬ 
ments required by law for the location 
and ownership of mining claims or lodes, 
such owner, company or corporation shall 
file or cause to be filed, within thirty days 
after the time limited for performing 
such labor or making such improvements, 
with the County Recorder of Deeds of the 
county in which the mine or claim is sit¬ 
uated, an affidavit particularly des¬ 
cribing the labor performed and 
improvements made. and the value 
thereof. which affidavit shall be 
prima facie evidence of the facts 
therein stated. Upon the failure of any 
claimant mine owner to comply with 
the conditions of this Act in the perform¬ 
ance of labor, or making of improvements 
upon any claim, mine or mining ground, 
the claim or mine upon which such fail¬ 
ure occurred shall be opened to reloca¬ 
tion in the same manner as if no loca¬ 
tion of the same had ev£r been made. 
But if, previous to relocation, the orig¬ 
inal locators, their heirs, assigns, or le¬ 
gal representatives, resume work upon 
such claim, and continue the same with 
reasonable diligence until the required 
amount of labor has been performed or 
improvements made, and the required 
statement of accounts and affidavits filed 
with the County Recorder, then the claim 
shall not be subject to relocation because 
of previous failure to file accounts. Upon 
the failure of any one of the several co¬ 
owners to contribute his portion of the 
expenditures required hereby, the co¬ 
owners who have performed the labor or 
made the improvements, may, at the ex¬ 
piration of the year, give such delinquent 
co-owner personal notice, in writing, or 
by publication in the newspaper publish¬ 
ed nearest the claim, for at least once a 
week for ninety days;and if,at the expira¬ 
tion of ninety days after such notice 
in writing or publication, such delinquent 
shall fail or refuse to contribute his por¬ 
tion of the expenditures required by this 
claimant or mine owner to comply with 
section, his interest in the claim shall be¬ 
come the property of his co-owners who 
made the expenditures. A copy of such 
notice, together with an affidavit show¬ 
ing personal service or publication, as 
the case may be, of such notice, when 
filed or recorded with the Recorder of 
Deeds of the county in which such min¬ 
ing claim is situated shall be evidence of 
the acquisition of title of such co-owners. 
Where a person or company has or may 
run a tunnel or cuts in good faith 


33 


for the purpose of developing a lode, 
lodes, or claims owned by said person, or 
company, or corporation, the money so 
xpended in running said tunnel shall be 
aken and considered as expended on said 
odes or claims; Provided further, that 
said lode, claim, or claims, shall be dis¬ 
tinctly marked on the surface as pro¬ 
vided by law. 

Sec. 2. All mining locations and mining 
claims shall be subject to a reservation of 
the right of way through or over any 
mining claims, ditches, roads, canals,cuts, 
tunnels, and other easements for the pur¬ 
pose of working other mines; Provided, 
that any damage occasioned thereby 
shall be assessed and paid for in the man¬ 
ner provided by law for land taken for 
public use under the right of eminent 
domain. 

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect imme¬ 
diately. 


CHAPTER LXXIV. 

An Act to establish a uniform system of 

mine bell signals, to be used in all the 

mines operated in the State of Califor¬ 
nia, and for the protection of miners. 

[Approved March 8, 1893.] 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Every person, company, cor¬ 
poration, or individual, operating any 
mine within the State of California—gold, 
silver, copper, lead, coal, or any other 
metal or substance where it is necessary 
to use signals by means of bell or other¬ 
wise, for shafts, inclines, drifts, cross¬ 
cuts, tunnels, and underground workings 
shall, after the passage of this bill, adopt, 
use, and put in force the following sys¬ 
tem or code of mine bell signals, as fol¬ 
lows: 

1 bell, to hoist. (See Rule 2.) 

1 bell, to stop if in motion. 

2 bells, to lower. (See Rule 2.) 

3 bells, man to be hoisted; run slow. 
(See Rule 2.) 

4 bells, start pump if not running, or 
stop pump if running. 

1--3bells, start or stop air compres¬ 

sor. 

5 bells, send -down tools. See Rule 4.) 

6 bells, send down timbers. (See Rule 4.) 

7 bells, accident; move bucket or cage 
by verbal orders only. 

1 -4 bells, foreman wanted. 

2 -1-1 bells, done hoisting until 

called. 

2- 1 -2 bells, done hoisting for the 

day. 

2 -2-2 bells, change buckets from 

ore to water, or vice versa. 

3 -2--1 bells, ready to shoot in the 

shaft. (See Rule 3.) 

Engineer’s signal that he is ready to 


hoist, is to raise the bucket or cage' two 
feet and lower it again. (See Rule 3.) 

Levels shall be designated and inserted 
in notice hereinafter mentioned. (See 
Rule 5.) 

Sec. 2. For the purpose of enforcing 
and properly understanding the above 
code of signals, the following rules are 
hereby established: 

Rule 1. In giving signals make strokes 
on bell at regular intervals. The (—) 
must take the same time as for one stroke 
of the bell, and no more. If timber, tools, 
the foreman, bucket, or cage, are wanted 
to stop at any level in the mine, signal 
by number of strokes on the bell, the 
number of the level first before giving 
the signal for timber, tools, etc. Time be¬ 
tween signals to be double bars (-). 

Examples: 6—5, would mean to stop at 
sixth level with tools; 4--1-1-1--1, would 
mean to stop at fourth level, man on, 
hoist; 2- -1-4, would mean stop at second 
level with foreman. 

Rule 2. No person must get off or on 
the bucket or cage while the same is in 
motion. When men are to be hoisted, 
give the signal for men. Men must then 
get on bucket or cage, then give tne slg- 
nal to hoist. Bell cord must be in reach 
of man on the bucket or cage at stations. 

Rule 3. After signal “Ready to shoot 
In shaft,” engineer must give his signal 
when he is ready to hoist. Miners must 
then give the signal of “Men to be hoist¬ 
ed,” then “spit fuse,” get into the bucket 
and give the signal to hoist. 

Rule 4. All timbers, tools, etc., “longer 
than the depth of the bucket,” to be 
hoisted or lowered, must be securely 
lashed at the upper end to the cable. Min¬ 
ers must know they will ride up or down 
the shaft without catching on rocks or 
timbers and be thrown out. 

Rule 5 The foreman will see that one 
printed sheet of these signals and rules 
for each level and for the engine room 
are attached to a board not less than 
twelve inches wdde by thirty-six inches 
long, and securely fasten the board up 
where signals can be easily read at the 
places above stated. 

Rule 6. The above signals and rules 
must be obeyed. Any violation will be 
sufficient grounds for discharging the 
party or parties so doing. No person, 
company, corporation, or individuals op¬ 
erating any mine within the State of 
California, shall be responsible for acci¬ 
dents that may happen to men disobeying 
the above rules and signals. Said notice 
and rules shall be signed by the person 
or superintendent having charge of the 
mine, who shall designate the name of 
the corporation or the ow T ner of the mine. 

Sec. 3. Any person or company failing 
to carry out any of the provisions of this 
Act shall be responsible for all damages 
arising to or incurred by any person 
working in said mine during the time of 
such failure. 

Sec. 4. This Act shall take.effect im¬ 
mediately. 





34 


CHAPTER CCXXIII. 

An Act to amend an Act entitled an Act 
to establish a Civil Code, approved 
March 21, 1872, by adding thereto two 
sections, to be known as sections one 
thousand four hundred and twenty-four 
and one thousand four hundred and 
twenty-five, being title nine, part four, 
division two, of said Code, concerning 
the manner of conducting the business 
of hydraulic mining. 

[Approved March 24, 1893.] 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

1. The Civil Code of the State of Cali¬ 
fornia is hereby amended by adding 
thereto a new title, to be known as title 
nine, of part four, of division two, of 
said Code, to read as follows: 

TITHE IX— HYDRAULIC MINING. 

1424. The business of hydraulic mining 
may be carried on within the State of 
California wherever and whenever the 
same can be carried on without material 
injury to the navigable streams, or the 
lands adjacent thereto. 

1425. Hydraulic mining, within tne 
meaning of this title, is mining by means 
of the application of water, under pres¬ 
sure, through a nizzle, against a natural 

bank. 


CHAPTER XXI. 

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 12, relat¬ 
ing to mines and mining claims situ¬ 
ated within the boundaries of the Yo- 
semite National Park. 

[Adopted March 16, 1895.] 

WHEREAS, The Government of the 
United States has set aside Certain por¬ 
tions of the State of California for a 
national park, known as Yosemite Na¬ 
tional Park; and whereas, within the 
limits of said park are various mines 
and mining claims, said mines and min¬ 
ing claims having been discovered, held 
and worked according to the laws of 
the United States prior to the forma¬ 
tion of said park, many of the owners 
thereof holding the same by virtue of 
patents granted by the government, 
thus securing vested rights therein, and 
others by reason of having performed 
the annual assesment work and other 
requirements prescribed by the mining 
laws of the United States; and whereas, 
the owners of such mines and mining 
claims are now prohibited from work¬ 
ing and operating the same under rul¬ 
ings of the Interior Department, under 
pain of being arrested as trespassers 
and subjected to trial; therefore, be it 
Resolved by the Assembly of the State 
of California, the Senate concurring, That 
we instruct our Senators and request our 
Representatives in Congress from this 
State to advocate such legislation or mod¬ 


ification of the rulings of the Interior De¬ 
partment as shall permit the owners of 
said mines and mining claims to enjoy 
the same privileges now that they had 
prior to the formation of said Yosemite 
National Park. 

Resolved, That the Governor be re¬ 
quested to transmit to each of our Sen¬ 
ators and Representatives in Congress a 
copy of these resolutions. 


CHAPTER XLI. 

An Act to amend sections one and three 
of an Act entitled “An Act for the 
better protection of the stockholders in 
corporations formed under the laws of 
the State of California, for the purpose 
of carrying on and conducting the busi¬ 
ness of mining,” approved March 30,1874 

[Approved February 26, 1897!] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Section one of an Act for the 
better protection of the stockholders in 
corporations formed under the laws of 
the State of California, for the purpose of 
carrying on and conducting the business 
of mining, approved March thirtieth, 
eighteen hundred and seventy-four, is 
hereby amended so as to read as follows: 

Section 1. It shall be the duty of the 
secretary of every corporation formed 
for the purpose of mining, or conducting 
mining in California, to keep a com¬ 
plete set of books showing all receipts and 
expenditures of such corporation, the 
sources of such receipts, and the objects 
of such expenditures, and also all trans¬ 
fers of stock. All books and papers shall, 
at all times during business hours, be op¬ 
en to the inspection of any bona fide 
stockholder; and if any stockholder shall 
at any time so request, it shall be the 
duty of the secretary to attend at the 
office of said company at least one hour 
in the day out of regular business hours, 
and exhibit such books and papers of the 
company as such stockholder may desire, 
who shall be entitled to be accompanied 
by an expert; and he shall also be entitled 
to make copies or extracts from any such 
books or papers. Any stockholder may, 
at reasonable hours, have permission to 
examine such mining property, and he 
shall be entitled to be accompanied by an 
expert to examine such property, to take 
samples, and to make such other exami¬ 
nation as he may deem necessary. It 
shall be the duty of the directors, on the 
second Monday of every month, to cause 
to be made an itemized account or bal¬ 
ance sheet for the previous month, em¬ 
bracing a full and complete statement of 
all disbursements and receipts, showing 
from what sources such receipts were de- 




35 


rived, and for what and to whom such 
disbursements or payments were made, 
and for what object or purpose the same 
were made;also all indebtedness or liabili- 
ties incurred or existing at the time, and 
for what the same were incurred, and the 
balance of money, if any, on hand. Such 
account or balance sheet shall be verified 
under oath by the president and secretary, 
and posted in some conspicuous place in 
the office of the company. It shall be the 
duty of the superintendent, on the first 
Monday of each month, to file with the 
secretary an itemized account, verified 
under oath, showing all receipts and dis¬ 
bursements made by him for the previous 
month, and for what said disbursements 
were made. Such account shall also con¬ 
tain a verified statement showing the 
number of men employed under him, and 
for what purpose, and the rate of wages 
paid to each one. He shall attach to such 
account a full and complete report, under 
oath, of the work done in said mine, the 
amount of ore extracted, from what part 
of mine taken, the amount sent to mill 
for reduction, its assay value ,the amount 
of bullion received, the amount of bullion 
shipped to the office of the company or 
elsewhere, and the amount, if any, re¬ 
tained by the superintendent. It shall 
also be his duty to forward to the office 
of the company a full report, under oath, 
of all discoveries of ores or mineral-bear¬ 
ing quartz made in said mine, whether by 
boring, drifting, sinking, or otherwise, to¬ 
gether with the assay value thereof. All 
accounts, reports and correspondence 
from the superintendent shall be kept in 
some conspicuous place in the office of 
said company, and to be open to the in¬ 
spection of all stockholders; provided, 
that this section shall apply only to min 
ing corporations whose stock is listed and 
offered for sale at public exchange, and 
shall not apply to mining corporations 
whose stock is not listed in the public ex¬ 
change, and is not offered for public sale. 

Section 2. Section three of said Act is 
hereby amended so as to read as follows: 

Section 3.—In case of the refusal or ne¬ 
glect of the president to cause to 
be issued by the secretary the 
order in the second section of this 
Act mentioned, such stockholder shall be 
entitled to recover against said president 
the sum of one thousand dollars and 
costs, as provided in the last section. In 
case of the failure of the directors to have 
the reports and accounts current made 
and posted as in the first section of this 
Act provided, they shall be liable, either 
severally or jointly, to an action by any 
stockholder in any court of competent 
jurisdiction complaining thereof, and on 
proof of such refusal or failure, such 
complaining stockholder shall recover 
judgment for actual damages sustained 
by him, with costs of suit. And each of 
such defaulting directors shall also be li¬ 
able to removal for such neglect. 

Section 3. This Act shall take effect im¬ 
mediately. 


CHAPTER LXXVII. 

An Act to amend section one thousand 
two hundred and thirty-eight of the 
Code of Civil Proceedure of the State of 
California concerning the right of emi¬ 
nent domain. 

[Approved March 4, 1897.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Section one thousand two 
hundred and thirty-eight of the Code of 
Civil Proceedure is amended to read as 
follows: 

1238. Subject to the provisons of the 
title the right of eminent domain may be 
exercised in behalf of the following public 
uses: 

5. Roads, tunnels, ditches, flumes, 
pipes and dumping places for work¬ 
ing mines; also outlets, natural or oth¬ 
erwise, for the flow, deposit or conduct of 
tailings or refuse matter from mines; also 
an occupancy in common by the owners 
or possessors of different mines of any 
place for the flow, deposit or conduct of 
tailings or refuse matter from their sev¬ 
eral mines. 

Sec. 2. This Act shall take effect im¬ 
mediately. 


CHAPTER XCII. 

An Act to amend section one of an Act 
entitled “An Act for the further protec¬ 
tion of stockholders in mining compan¬ 
ies,” approved April 23, 1880. 

[Approved March 9, 1897.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Section one of an Act entitled 
“An Act for the further protection of 
stockholders in mining companies,” ap¬ 
proved April twenty-third, eighteen hun¬ 
dred and eighty, is hereby amended so as 
to read: 

Section 1. It shall not be lawful for the 
directors of any mining corporation to 
sell, lease, mortgage, or otherwise dispose 
of the whole or any part of the mining 
ground owned or held by such corpora¬ 
tion, nor to purchase or obtain in any 
way (except by location) any additional 
mining ground unless such act be ratified 
by the holders of at least two-thirds of 
the stock of such corporation then out¬ 
standing. Such ratification may be made 
either in writing, signed and acknowledg¬ 
ed by such stockholders, or by resolution 
duly passed at any regularly called stock¬ 
holders’ meeting. The certificate of the 
secretary of any mining corporation, re¬ 
citing such ratification at a stockholders’ 
meeting, or the names of stockholders 
with the amount of stock held by each, 
and the total stock outstanding, signed 
and acknowledged by him in the manner 
provided for acknowledgments to convey¬ 
ances of real property, may be attached 



33 


to or indorsed upon any deed, mortgage, 
conveyance, or other instrument made un¬ 
der this Act and recorded with such deed, 
conveyance, or other instrument, and the 
recitals contained in such certificate, or 
the duly recorded copy thereof, are made 
prima facie evidence of their truthfulness 
for all purposes whatsoever; provided, 
that no one except a stockholder in any 
such corporation shall be permitted to 
urge any objection to the acquisition of 
any additional ground or other property 
by such corporation. 

Sec. 2. This Act shall take effect imme¬ 
diately. 


CHAPTER XCIV. 

An Act to amend section eleven hun¬ 
dred and fifty-nine of an Act entitled 
“An Act to establish a Civil Code,” 
approved March 21, 1872, relative to 
recording of certain instruments and 
valididating records heretofore made. 

* [Approved March 9, 1897.] 

The People of the State of California, 
represented in Senate and Assem¬ 
bly, do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Section eleven hundred 
and fifty-nine of an Act entitled an 
Act to establish a Civil Code, approved 
March twenty-first, eighteen hundred 
and seventy-two, is hereby amended to 
read as follows: 

1159. Judgments affecting the title 
to or possession of real property au¬ 
thenticated by the certificate of the 
clerk of the court in which such judg¬ 
ments were rendered (and notices of 
location of mining claims), may be re¬ 
corded without acknowledgment, cer¬ 
tificate of acknowledgment, or further 
proof. The record of all notices of 
location of mining claims heretofore 
made in the proper office without ac¬ 
knowledgment, or certificate of ac¬ 
knowledgment, or other proof shall 
have the same force and effect for all 
purposes as if the same had been duly 
acknowledged, or proved and certified 
as required by law. Affidavits showing 
work or posting of notices upon mining 
claims may also be recorded in the 
Recorder’s office of the county where 
such mining claims are situated. 

Sec. 2. This Act shall take effect and 
be in force from and after its passage. 


CHAPTER CXIII. 

An Act to amend an Act entitled “An 
Act to provide for the appointment, 
duties, and compensation of a Debris 
Commissioner, and to make an appro¬ 
priation to be expended under his di¬ 
rections in the discharge" of his duties 
as such commissioner,” approved March 
24, 1893. 

(Approved March 17, 1897.) 

The people of the state of California, 
represented in Senate and Assembly 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. Section one of the Act en¬ 
titled “An Act to provide for the ap¬ 
pointment, duties, and compensation of 
a Debris Commissioner, and to make an 
appropriation to be expended under his 
directions in the discharge of nis duties 
as such commissioner,” approved March 
twenty-fourth, one thousand eight hun¬ 
dred and ninety-three, is hereby am¬ 
ended so as to read as follows: 

Section 1. The Governor of the state of 
California shall, on or before the first 
day of January, 1898, appoint a competent 
civil engineer for a period of four years 
only, to be known as and called the De¬ 
bris Commissioner; provided, however, 
that the Debris Commissioner heretofore 
appointed under the act entitled “An act 
to provide for the appointment, duties, 
and compensation of a Debris Commis¬ 
sioner, and to make an appropriation to 
be expended under his directions in the 
discharge of his duties as such commis¬ 
sioner,” approved March 24, 1893, shall 
continue to perform the duties, and re¬ 
ceive the compensation of that office, sub¬ 
ject to the provisions of this Act, until 
the expiration of the term for which he 
was appointed and until the appointment 
and Qualification of the Debris Commis¬ 
sioner provided for by this Act. 

Sec. 2. Section two of said act is here¬ 
by amended so as to read as follows: 

Sec. 2. Said commissioner shall re¬ 
ceive a compensation of $10 per day while 
actually engaged in the discharge of his 
duties, and his necessary traveling ex¬ 
penses, to be allowed by the State Board 
of Examiners. 

Sec. 3. Section three of said Act is here¬ 
by amended so as to read as follows: 





37 


# 


Section 3. It shall be the duty of the 
said Debris Commissioner to consult and 
advise with the members of the corps of 
engineers of the United States Army com¬ 
prising the California Debris Commission 
(created by act of Congress approved 
March 1, 1893). in relation to the construc¬ 
tion of works for the restraining and im¬ 
pounding of debris resulting from mining 
operations, natural erosion or other 
causes;and it shall be his duty to examine 
such works, and to report the result of 
such examination to the State Board of 
Examiners. Said Debris Commissioner is 
further authorized and directed to con¬ 
sult and advise with said California De¬ 
bris Commission in relation to any and 
all plans and specifications that may have 
been ,or may hereafter be prepared or 
adopted by said California Debris Com¬ 
mission, for the construction of such re¬ 
straining or impounding works, and said 
Debris Commissioner shall submit a copy 
of all such plans and specifications to the 
State Board of Examiners for their ex¬ 
amination and consideration, together 
with his approval or disapproval thereof, 
or other recommendation with reference 
thereto. 

The State Board of Examiners shall 
thereupon proceed to examine and con¬ 
sider the plans and specifications thus 
submitted to them, and in that behalf 
may require the attendance, counsel, and 
advice of said Debris Commissioner, dur¬ 
ing their examination and consideration 
thereof. The State Board of Examiners 
shall keep a record of their deliberations 
and shall either approve or disapprove 
said plans and specifications, which ap¬ 
proval or disapproval may be by a ma¬ 
jority vote of said board; provided, that 
no plans and specifications involving an 
expenditure on the part of the State of 
California of a sum greater than the ap¬ 
propriation herein made shall be ap¬ 
proved. 

If said plans and specifications be ap¬ 
proved by the State Board of Examiners, 
the said Debris Commissioner shall there¬ 
upon report such action to said “Califor¬ 
nia Debris Commission.” 

Whenever said “California Debris Com¬ 
mission” or the government of the United 
States shall have entered into any con¬ 
tract for the construction of works for 
the purposes described in this Act, in pur¬ 
suance of plans and specifications that 
have been theretofore approved by the 
State Board of Examiners as in this Act 
provided, it shall then be the duty of the 
Debris Commissioner to carefully inspect 
such works during the process of their 
construction and to keep a record of the 
result of such inspection and to report 
the same monthly to the State Board of 
Examiners. Said Debris Commissioner 
shall also from time to time, dur¬ 
ing the process of the construc¬ 
tion of such works, when re¬ 
quested so to do by the said “California 
Debris Commission,” draw his warrants 
upon the State Controller in favor of 


such person or persons as may be desig¬ 
nated by said “California Debris Com¬ 
mission” for such amounts as shall equal 
ono half of the cost of the construction of 
said works; and said Debris Commission¬ 
er shall, in like manner, and when re¬ 
quested so to do by said “California De¬ 
bris Commission,” draw his warrant upon 
the State Controller for an amount equal 
to one half the purchase price of any site 
or sites necessary for the construction of 
said works; provided, that the purchase 
of said site or sites shall have been first 
approved by the State Board of Examin¬ 
ers, and provided further, that no war- 
*' , nt shall be drawn in excess of the 
amount appropriated by this Act. 

Section 4.—Section four of said Act is 
hereby amended so as to read as follows; 

Section 4. There is hereby appropriated 
out of the general fund of the treasury of 
this State not otherwise appropriated, the 
sum of two hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars, to be used in the construction of 
works for the restraining and impounding 
of debris resulting from mining opera¬ 
tions, natural erosion, or other causes, 
and for the purchase of sites therefor. 
The appropriation made by this section 
is intended as a re-appropriation of the 
sum of two hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars appropriated by the act entitled 
“An Act to provide for the appointment, 
duties, and compensation of a Debris 
Commissioner, and to make an appropria¬ 
tion to be expended under his directions 
in the discharge of his duties as such 
commissioner,” approved March twenty- 
fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety- 
three, and it is expressly intended and 
provided by this Act that the State of 
California shall, in no event, incur any 
liabilitv hereunder beyond the amount of 
the appropriation herein made; and no 
contractor, claimant, or person shall ac¬ 
quire any right or obligation against the 
State of California beyond said sum so 
appropriated and set apart for the pur¬ 
poses hereinabove set forth, and it is ex¬ 
pressly declared that any claim or de¬ 
mand against the State of California in 
excess of said approriation shall be in¬ 
valid and void. Said moneys shall be 
paid only upon orders drawn by the State 
Controller upon the written request of 
said Debris Commissioner, as in this Act 
provided. 

Section 5. Section seven of said Act is 
hereby amended so as to read as follows; 

Section 7.—All expenditures authorized 
by the provisions of this Act shall be 
subject to the approval of the State 
Board of Examiners; and the State Corr- 
troller is hereby authorized to draw his 
warrant for all expenditures not in ex¬ 
cess of the appropriation herein provided 
for so approved by the State Board of 
Examiners, and the State Treasurer is 
hereby directed to pay the same. 

Sec. 6.—This Act shall take effect imme¬ 
diately. 

Sec. 6.—This act shall take effect imme¬ 
diately. 


38 


CHAPTER CLIX. 

An Act prescribing - the manner of locat¬ 
ing - mining - claims upon the public do¬ 
main of the United States, recording 
notices of location thereof, amending 
defective locations, and providing for 
the deposit of district records with 
County Recorders, and prescribing the 
effect to be given to recordation of no¬ 
tices of location and affidavits. 

[Approved March 27, 1897.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly 
do enact as follows: 

Section 1. The location of mining claims 
upon the public domain of the United 
States shall be made and perfected as 
provided in this Act. 

Sec. 2.—The discoverer of any vein or 
lode shall immediately, upon making a 
discovery, erect at the point of discovery 
a substantial monument or mound of 
rocks, and post thereon a preliminary no¬ 
tice which shall contain: 

First—The name of the lode or claim. 
Second—The name of the locator or lo¬ 
cators. 

Third—The date of discovery. 

Fourth—The number of linear feet claim¬ 
ed in length along the course of the vein 
each way from the point of discovery. 

Fifth—The width claimed in each side 
of the center of the vein; 

Sixth—The general course of the vein or 
lode, as near as may be; 

Seventh—That such notice is a first or 
preliminary notice. 

Such notice shall be recorded in the 
office of the County Recorder of the 
county in which the same is posted with¬ 
in twenty days after the posting thereof. 
Upon the erection of said monument and 
posting such notice, the discoverer shall 
be allowed the period of time specified in 
section three of this Act to enable him to 
perfect his location as hereinafter pro¬ 
vided. 

Sec. 3.—Within sixty days from the date 
of the discovery of a vein or lode, the 
discoverer must perform fifty dollars’ 
worth of labor in developing his discov¬ 
ery, and distinctly mark his location on 
the ground so that its boundaries can be 
readily traced, and must file in the 
office of the County Recorder of the coun¬ 
ty in which the claim is situated, a certifi¬ 
cate of location, which said certificate 
shall state: 

1. The name of the lode or claim; 

2. The name of the locator or locators. 

3. The date of the discovery and post¬ 
ing of the notice, provided for in section 
two of this Act, which shall be consid¬ 
ered as the date of of the location; 

4. A description of the claim, defining 
the exterior boundaries as they are mark¬ 
ed upon the ground, and such additional 
description by reference to some natural 
objects, or permanent monument, as will 
identify the claim; 

Fifth—A statement that such certificate 
is the final or completed notice of loca¬ 
tion, and that he has performed the afore¬ 
said fifty dollars’ worth of labor in de¬ 
velopment work thereon within the afore 


said sixty day period, stating generally 
the nature thereof. Said certificate shall 
be dated and signed by or on behalf of 
the locator or locators, and verified by 
them or by some one in their behalf, and 
when filed for record shall be deemed 
and considered as prima facie evidence 
of the facts therein recited. A copy of 
such certificate of location, certified by 
the County Recorder, shall be admitted in 
evidence in all actions or proceedings 
with the same effect as the original. The 
performance of such labor shall be 
deemed a necessary act in completing 
such location and a part thereof, and no 
part thereof shall inure to the benefit of 
any subsequent location. 

Sec. 4. The discoverer of placers or 
other forms of deposit, subject to loca¬ 
tion and appropriation, under mining 
laws applicable to placers, shall locate 
his claim in the following manner; 

First—He must immediately post in a 
conspicuous place at the point of dis¬ 
covery thereon a notice of certificate of 
location thereof containing: 

(a) The name of the claim; 

(b) The name of the locator or locat¬ 
ors; 

(c) The date of the discovery and post¬ 
ing of the notice, hereinbefore provided 
for, which shall be considered as the date 
of the location; 

(d) A description of the claim by refer¬ 
ence to legal subdivisions of sections, if 
the location is made in conformity with 
the public surveys; otherwise, a descrip¬ 
tion with reference to some natural ob¬ 
ject or permanent monument as will iden¬ 
tify the claim, and where such claim is 
located by legal subdivisions of the pub¬ 
lic surveys, such location shall, notwith¬ 
standing that fact, be marked by the lo¬ 
cator upon the ground, the same as oth¬ 
er locations. 

Second—Within thirty days from the 
date of such discovery he must record 
such notice or certificate of location in 
the office of the County Recorder of the 
county in which such discovery is made, 
and so distinctly mark his location on the 
ground that its boundaries can be readi¬ 
ly traced. 

Third—Within sixty days from the date 
of the discovery the discoverer shall per¬ 
form labor upon s\ich location or claim 
in developing the same to an amount 
which shall be equivalent in the aggre¬ 
gate to at least ten dollars’ ($10) worth 
of such labor for each twenty acres, or 
fractional part thereof, contained in such 
location or claim. 

A failure to perform such labor within 
said time shall cause all rights under 
such location to be forfeited and the land 
covered thereby shall at once be open to 
location by qualified locators other than 
the preceding locators, but shall not in 
any event be open to location by such 
preceding locators, and any labor per¬ 
formed by them thereon shall not inure 
to the benefit of any subsequent locator 
thereof. 


39 


Fifth—Such locator shall, upon the per¬ 
formance of such labor, file with the Re¬ 
corder of the county an affidavit showing 
such performance, and generally the na¬ 
ture and kind of work so done. 

Sec. 5. The affidavit provided for in 
the last section, and the aforesaid placer 
notice or certificate of location, when 
filed for record, shall be deemed and con¬ 
sidered prima facie evidence of the facts 
therein recited. A copy of such certifi¬ 
cate, notice or affidavit, certified by the 
County Recorder, shall be admitted in 
evidence in all actions or proceedings 
with the same effect as the original. 

Sec. 6 . All locations of quartz or placer 
formations or deposits, hereafter made, 
which do not conform to the require¬ 
ments of this act, in so far as the same 
are respectively applicable thereto, shall 
be void. 

Sec. 7. No record of a mining claim or 
millsite, made after the passage of this 
act, in the records of any mining district, 
shall be valid. All notices of location of 
mining claims, millsites, and other no¬ 
tices, heretofore recorded in such district 
records, if such notices conform to the 
local rules and regulations in force in 
such district, are hereby declared valid. 
Within thirty days after the passage of 
this Act the district recorder or custodi¬ 
an of the records of the several mining 
districts in this state, shall transmit to 
the County Recorders of the respective 
counties wherein the respective districts 
are situated, all the records of said re¬ 
spective districts,and thenceforward such 
County Recorder shall be deemed and 
considered the legal custodian of such rec¬ 
ords. Thereafter copies of such records, 
certified by the County Recorder, may be 
received in evidence with the same effect 
as the originals. 

Sec. 8 . This Act shall take effect and be 
in force sixty days after its passage. 


CHAPTER CLXXX. 

An Act to repeal an Act entitled “An Act 
imposing a tax on the issue of certifi¬ 
cates of stock corporations,’’ approved 
April 1, 1S78. 

[Approved March 31, 1897.] 

The People of the State of California, re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 

Setion 1 An Act entitled an Act impos¬ 
ing a tax on the issue of certificates of 
stock of stock corporations, approved 
April one, eighteen hundred and seventy- 
eight, is hereby repealed. 

Sec. 2. This Act shall take effect from 
and after its passage. 


CHAPTER CCLXX. 

An Act to repeal an Act entitled “An Act 
regulating the sale of mineral lands be¬ 
longing to the State,” approved March 
28, 1874, and the Acts amendatory there¬ 
of, and to provide for the sale of min¬ 
eral lands under the United States laws. 


[Approved April 1, 1897.] 

The People of the State of California re¬ 
presented in Senate and Assembly, 
do enact as follows: 


Section 1. The following entitled Acts 
of the Legislature are hereby repealed, 
to-wit: 

First—An Act entitled “An Act regulat¬ 
ing the sale of mineral lands belonging to 
the State,” approved March twenty- 
eighth, eighteen hundred and seventy- 
four. 

Second—An Act entitled “An Act to 
amend an Act entitled an Act regulating 
the sale of mineral lands belonging to the 
State, approved March twenty-eighth, 
eighteen hundred and seventy-four,” ap¬ 
proved February third, eighteen hundred 
and seventy-six. 

Third—An Act entitled “An Act to 
amend an Act entitled an Act regulating 
the sale of mineral lands belonging to the 
State, approved March twenty-eighth, 
eighteen hundred and seventy-four,” ap¬ 
proved April sixth, eighteen hundred and 


ighty. 

Sec. 2. When it shall be shown by affi- 
avits or otherwise, to the satisfaction of 
le Surveyor-General, that any portion of 
sixteenth or thirty-sixth section belong- 
ig to the State is valuable for its miner- 
1 deposits, the Surveyor-General shall 
ot approve any application to purchase 
ae same, nor shall the Register of the 
tate Land Office issue a certifi- 
ate of purchase therefor, until 
ae question of the character of 
ae land has been referred, for 
etermination, to a court of compe- 

S nt jurisdiction, in the manner provided 

y section thirty-four hundred and four 
3 en of the Political Code, and adjudged 
ot to be valuable as mining land. 

Sec 3 —The sixteenth and thirty-sixth 
actions belonging to the State, in which 
aere may be found valuable mineral de¬ 
bits are hereby, declared to be free and 
pen to exploration, occupation and pur- 
hase of the United States, under the 
rules, and regulations passed and 
inscribed by the United States for the 
ale of mineral lands. 

Sec. 4. This Act shall take effect from 
nd after its passage. 


\ 



California Supreme Court Decisions. 


BOUNDARIES—NOTICES. 

Marking - boundaries, Posting - and Re¬ 
cording Notice—Where the local regula¬ 
tions of a mining district require that 
the boundaries of a mining claim shall be 
marked on the ground, and the notice of 
its location posted before it is recorded- 
priority as to the right of possession un¬ 
der conflicting locations is determined in 
accordance with the priority of mark¬ 
ing the boundaries and posting the notice 
of the respective locations; and the loca¬ 
tion having the priority as to such acts 
will prevail over another location, al¬ 
though the notice of the latter was re¬ 
corded prior to the marking of the 
ing the boundaries and posting of the no¬ 
tice of the former. Gregory, et sq., vs. 
Pershbaker and M. Gold Min. Co., 73 Cal., 
109; July 12, 1887. 

PLACER MINES. 

The location of a placer mining claim is 
valid notwithstanding no valuable min¬ 
eral had been actually discovered in the 
land before the location was made. Ib. 

RELOCATION. 

Re-location — Performance of Labor— 
The failure of a locator of a mining 
claim to perform the amount of labor re¬ 
quired by the laws of the United States, 
subjects the claim to re-location, and a 
peaceable entry in good faith may be 
made for the purpose, although the claim 
is occupied by the original locator. Du 
Prat vs. James, 65 Cal., 555; August 28, 
1S84. 

DIVERGENCE OF END LINE. 

Where the north end line of one quartz 
mining claim is identical with the south 
end line of an adjoining claim, at a place 
where the ledge crosses from the ground 
of one into the other, and such end lines 
at another place diverge, the owners of 
the claims have the entire ownership of 
the ledge enclosed within their extreme 
end lines, with the exclusive right to 
follow its dips and angles laterally; and 
may, as against a subsequent locator, 
agree between themselves as to the right 
to work the portion of the ledge includ¬ 
ed within the piece of ground formed by 
the divergence of their end lines. Cham, 
pion Mining Co. vs. Con. Wyoming G. 
Mining Co., 75 Cal., 78; Jan. 31, 1888. 




RELOCATION. 

Relocation—Resumption of Work. Post¬ 
ing of Notice,Marking Boundaries—Where 
a mining claim has become a subect to re¬ 
location the resumption of work there¬ 
on by the original locator, after a notice 
of relocation has been posted thereon, 
but before the relocator has marked the 
boundaries of his location, is sufficient, 
under Section 2324 of the United States 
Revised Statutes, to prevent the origi¬ 
nal location from lapsing. Pharis vs. 
Muldoon, 75 Cal., 284; March 20, 1888. 

BOUNDARY LINES. 

Boundary lines need not be parallel. 
The U. S. Circuit Court held in the Eure¬ 
ka case, 4 Sawy; 302, that, the provi¬ 
sion of the Statute of 1872, requiring the 
lines of each claim to be parallel to each 
other,is merely directory, and no con¬ 
sequence is attached to a deviation from 
its direction.” Cited and followed in 
Horswell vs. Ruiz, 67 Cal., Ill; June 3, 
1885. 

DESCRIPTION. 

Erroneous Description—An erroneous 
statement in a notice of location of min¬ 
ing claim as to the quarter section in 
which the claim is situated, will not in¬ 
validate the notice, if the remaining por¬ 
tions of the description sufficiently iden¬ 
tify the land. 

The description in a notice of location 
of a mining claim is sufficient if it des¬ 
ignate the number of acres claimed and 
define its boundaries on three sides. 
Duryea vs. Boncher, 67 Cal., 141; June 
23, 1885. 

LOCATION AND BOUNDARIES. 

Location—The marking of a mining lo¬ 
cation must be such that the boundaries 
of the claim can be readily traced, and 
whether or not the marking conform to 
this requirement is a question for the 
jury. Taylor vs. Middleton, 67 Cal., 656; 
Nov. 19, 1885. 

NOTICE, RECORDING OF. 

Recording and Filing Notice, Custom. 
In the absence of a custom requiring it, 
the recording of a notice of location of 
a mining claim is not essential to its 
validity; and even where such a custom 
prevails, the fact that the notice is re¬ 
corded before it is posted does not ren¬ 
der it invalid. Thompson vs. Sprag, 72 
Cal. 528; June 14, 1887. 








41 


EXCESSIVE LOCATION. 

Excessive Location, Validity of—A loca¬ 
tion of a mining claim is not invalid 
because the notice of location claims 
more land than the locators are entitled 
to hold. In such case, the location is 
good for so much as the locator is en¬ 
titled to hold, and void for the excess 
only. Ib. 

MINORS. 

Minors may make locations. Under Sec¬ 
tion 2319 of the United States Revised 
Statutes, minors who are citizens of the 
United States may locate mining claims. 
Ib. 

LOCATION. 

Location of Mining Claims—Agree¬ 
ments for Rights of Parties After Disso¬ 
lution—Trust—Where an agreement pro¬ 
viding for the prospecting and location 
of mining claims for the benefit of all 
the parties thereto is dissolved by mu¬ 
tual consent, neither of the parties is un¬ 
der any obligation to the others to per¬ 
fect locations commenced in pursuance of 
the agreement; and subsequent locations 
covering the same ground made by some 
of them are not held in trust for the 
others. Page vs. Summers, 70 Cal., 121; 
July 12, • 18S6. 

POSSESSION, RIGHT OF. 

Right of Possession—Subsequent Loca¬ 
tion—A party who is in the prior pos¬ 
session of a piece of ground is entitled to 
the possession as against a mere intrud¬ 
er, but not as against one who has sub¬ 
sequently located the same in compliance 
with the mining laws. Garthe vs. Hart, 
73 Cal., 541; Oct. 6, 1887. 

SALES. 

Transfer must be in writing. Under Sec¬ 
tion 1091 of the Civil Code a transfer of 
a mining claim must be in writing. Ib. 

TOWNSITES. 

Mining Claim—Townsite Patent—Quartz 
Ledge Within Lot—Tunnel Under Lot— 
An owner of a lot of land under a town- 
site patent issued by the United States 
prior to the passage of the act of 1872, 
regulating the width of quartz mining 
claims, in which lot a gold quartz ledge 
was known to exist at the date of the 
patent, has an absolute title in fee simple 
to the land not actually included in the 
quartz ledge; and a third person, for the 
purpose of working the quartz ledge, 
has no right, without the consent of the 
owner, to run a tunnel under the portion 
of the land not included in the ledge. 
Dover vs. Richards, 73 Cal., 477, Sept. 
28, 1887. 

TUNNELS. 

Permission to Construct Tunnel—Want 
of Consideration—A permission to con¬ 
struct such a tunnel, given by the own¬ 
er of the lot to the person working the 
quartz ledge, without any consideration 
therefor, is not binding upon the owner, 
nor his subsequent grantee. Ib. 


PARTITION OF MINING RIGHT. 

Partition—Mining Right—Conveyance— 
Condition—A grant of an undivided inter¬ 
est in a piece of mining ground express¬ 
ly conditioned that no rights are con¬ 
veyed, except a mining right upon the 
premises, vest in the vendee only the 
right of taking from the land any miner¬ 
als or ores contained in it to the extent 
of the interest granted. He does not by 
virtue of the conveyance become a co¬ 
parcener, joint tenant, or tenant in com¬ 
mon with the vendor in the land itself. 
His interest is not an estate which can 
be the subject of an action for partition. 
Smith vs. Cooley, 65 Cal., 46; Feb. 12, 
1884. 

BOUNDARIES. 

The failure to mark the boundaries of 
the location is fatal to its validity; and 
the defect is not cured by the fact that 
the notice of location gives the section 
numbers constituting the claim. Antho¬ 
ny vs. Jillson, 83 Cal., 296; March 1, 1890. 

CITIZENSHIP. 

Citizenship—Right to Acquire Public 
Mineral Land—One who is not a citizen 
of the United States and has not declared 
his intention to become such, cannot 
make a valid location of public mineral 
land. So held of one who filed his dec¬ 
laration of intention the day after he at¬ 
tempted to make his location. Ib. 

TOWNSITES. 

City Lots—Where a townsite patent has 
been issued, and a deed to a lot thereof 
has been regularly granted by the 
town authorities to an Individual claim¬ 
ing it, the deed carries to the grantee a 
perfect title, where no mine has been 
discovered, and the land was not known 
to be mineral at the date of the patent; 
and the discovery of a mine after the 
execution of the deed, and before the 
occupancy of the lot for residence or bus¬ 
iness purposes, will not give the mining 
claimant the right to the property as 
against the grantee under the townsite. 
McCormick vs. Sutton, 97 Cal., 373; Feb. 
24, 1893. 

TOWNSITE PATENT. 

Townsite Patent—Mineral Lands— pa¬ 
tent to a townsite conveys a perfect title 
in fee, except as to such land as was 
known to contain valuable mines be¬ 
fore the issuance of the patent. McCor¬ 
mick vs. Sutton, 97 Cal., 373; Feb. 24, 
1893. 

WORK ANNUAL. 

Annual Work—Mine Remaining Idle— 
Watchmen—Where a mine is idle the ser¬ 
vices of a watchman in looking after the 
property and taking care of the same 
may constitute work upon the claim suf¬ 
ficient to hold it, if such care was nec¬ 
essary to preserve tunnels, buildings, or 
any structure erected to work the 
mine. But if there was only the naked 


42 


claim to be looked after, and a watch¬ 
man was placed there merely to warn 
prospectors, and thus prevent a re¬ 
location, it would not be labor upon the 
mine in the sense of the statute, Altoona 
Q. M. Co. vs. Integral Q. M. Co.) 114 Cal. 
100, Aug. 20th, 1896. 

POSSESSION. 

Possession for five years, and work¬ 
ing a mine, is equivalent to a valid 
location, under Section 2332 of the Re¬ 
vised Statutes of the United States, lb. 

LOCATION AND BOUNDARIES. 

Section 2324 of the United States Re¬ 
vised Statutes provides that the loca¬ 
tion must be distinctly marked on the 
ground so that its boundaries can be 
readily traced," but does not prescribe 
how it shall be marked; that matter is 
left to the regulation of the local laws. 
Howeth vs. Sullenger, 113 Cal. 550, July 
28th. 1896. 

Where a claim is not in a min¬ 
ing district any marking of the 
boundaries so that they can be readily 
traced is sufficient; and stakes and 
stone monuments set at each corner of 
the claim and in the center of each end 
line, with one or more notices of lo¬ 
cation sufficient for identification of the 
claim, is a compliance with the stat¬ 
ute. Ib. 

ABANDONMENT. 

The law does not recognize a condi¬ 
tional abandonment, but an abandon¬ 
ment must be regarded as absolute, if 
existing at all. If the intention to 
abandon has been formed, and once 
acted upon, the abandonment is as ab¬ 
solute. if it exists for a moment, as 
though it continued for years. Tre- 
vaskis vs. Peard, 111 Cal. 599, March 
20th. 1896. 


RECORDING NOTICE. 

It is not necessary in the absence of 
a custom to the validity of the location 
of a mining claim that the notice of 
location should be recorded. Moore vs. 
Hamerstag, 109 Cal. 122, Sept. 12th, 1895. 

SALES. 

Mining Claim Conveyance—A mining 
claim is real estate, and under the stat¬ 
ute of frauds can be transferred only 
by operation of law or an instrument 
in writing. Ib. 

TRUSTS. 

A parol promise by the person in 
w’hose name the location was made to 
hold it in trust for the actual locator 
is void under the statute of frauds. Ib. 


U. S. Supreme Court Decisions. 


NOTICES. 

The recording of notices of lo¬ 
cation of a mining claim is not 
required when there is no min¬ 
ing district recorder, and the rules 
and regulations formerly existing in the 
district have fallen into disuse and be¬ 
come of no force and effect. Hans vs. 
Victoria Copper Min. Co., U. S. Sup. 
Court; Dec. 23, 1895, Vol. 159-162, p. 436. 

Mining locations distinctly marked on 
the ground so that their boundaries can 
be readily traced are sufficient under U. 
S. Rev. Stat., Sec. 2324, as against sub-* 
sequent locators, irrespective of the 
posting of notices. Ib. 

TOWNSITES. 

To except mines or mineral lands from 
the operation of a townsite patent, it is 
not sufficient that the lands do in fact 
contain minerals, or even valuable min¬ 
erals, when the townsite patent takes 
effect, if the lands are not known at that 
time to be valuable for mining purposes. 
Dover vs. Richards, Feb. 5, 1894; Sup. 
Court. U. S., Vol. 159-162, 305. 




43 


\ 


Extracts from the Codes. 


CIVIL CODE. 

Consolidation of mining’ corporations. 

Sec. 361. It shall be lawful for two or 
more corporations formed, or that may 
hereafter be formed, under the laws of 
this state, for mining purposes,which own 
or possess mining claims or lands adjoin¬ 
ing each other, or lying in the same vi¬ 
cinity, to consolidate their capital stock, 
debts, property, assets, and franchises 
in such manner, and upon such terms as 
may be agreed upon by the respective 
boards of directors or trustees of such 
companies so desiring to consolidate 
their interests; but no such consolidation 
shall take place without the written con¬ 
sent of the stockholders representing 
two-thirds of the capital stock of each 
company; and no such consolidation shall 
in any way relieve such companies, or the 
stockholders thereof, from any and all 
just liabilities; and in case of such con¬ 
solidation, due notice of the same shall 
be given by advertising for one month in 
at least one newspaper in the county 
and state where the said mining property 
is situated, if there be one published 
therein, and also in one newspaper pub¬ 
lished in the county, or city and county, 
where the principal place of business of 
any of said companies shall be. And 
when the said consolidation is com¬ 
pleted, a certificate thereof,containing the 
manner and terms of said consolidation, 
shall be filed in the office of the county 
clerk of the county in which the original 
certificate of incorporation of any of 
said companies shall be filed, and a copy 
thereof shall be filed in the office of the 
secretary of state. Such certificate shall 
be signed by a majority of each board 
of trustees or directors of the original 
companies; and it shall be their duty to 
call, within thirty days after the filing 
of such certificate, and after at least 
ten days’ public notice, a meeting of the 
stockholders of all of said companies so 
consolidated, to elect a board of trustees 
or directors for the consolidated company 
for the year thence next ensuing. The said 
certificate shall also contain all the re¬ 
quirements prescribed by section two 
hundred and ninety of said Civil Code. 

(New section, approved March 20, 1876; 
Amendments 1875-6, 75; took effect from 
passage.) 


MINING CORPORATIONS. 

Removal of place of business. 

584. Repealed by act of April 3, 1876; 

Amendments 1875-6, 73; took effect imme¬ 
diately. 

Directors to file certificate of proceed¬ 
ings in offices of county clerks and sec¬ 
retary of state. 

Sec. 585. When the publication pro¬ 
vided for in the preceding section has 
been completed, the directors of the cor¬ 
poration must file in the offices of the 
clerks of the counties from and to which 
such change has been made, and in the 
office of the secretary of state, certified 
copies of the written consent of the 
stockholders to such change, and of the 
notice of such change, and proof of pub¬ 
lication; also a certificate that the pro¬ 
posed removal has taken place; and 
thereafter the principal place of business 
of the corporation is at the place to which 
it is removed. 

Transfer agencies. 

Sec. 586. Any corporation organized in 
this State for the purpose of mining, or 
carrying on mining operations in or 
without this State, may establish and 
maintain agencies in other States of the 
United States, for the transfer and issu¬ 
ing of their stock; and a transfer or issue 
of the same at any such transfer agency, 
in accordance with the provisions of its 
by-laws, is valid and binding as fully 
and effectually for all purposes as if 
made upon the books of such corporation 
at its principal office within this State. 
The agencies must be governed by the 
by-laws and the directors of the corpo¬ 
ration. 

Stock issued at transfer agencies. 

Sec. 587. All stock of any such corpora¬ 
tion, issued at a transfer agency, must be 
signed by the president and secretary 
of the corporation, and countersigned at 
the time of its issue by the agent hav¬ 
ing charge of the transfer agency. 

No stock must be issued at a transfer 
agency unless the certificate of stock, 
in lieu of which the same is issued, is at 
the same time surrendered for cancel¬ 
lation. 


Fixtures attached to mines. 

Sec. 661. Sluice-boxes, flumes, hose, 
pipes, railway tracks, cars, blacksmith 
shops, mills, and all other machinery or 
tools used in working or developing the 
mine, are to be deemed affixed to the 
mine. 

CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. 
Mining Claims—Action governed by lo¬ 
cal rules. 

Sec. 748. In actions respecting mining 
claims, proof must be admitted of the 
customs, usages or regulations estab¬ 
lished and in force at the bar or dig¬ 
gings embracing such claim; and such 
customs, usages or regulations, when not 
in conflict with the laws of this State, 
must govern the decision of the action. 






/ 


44 


CIVIL CODE. 

TITLE IX.—HYDRAULIC MINING. 

1424. The business of hydraulic min¬ 
ing may be carried on within the State 
of California wherever and whenever the 
same can be carried on without material 
injury to the navigable streams, or the 
lands adjacent thereto. 

1425. Hydraulic mining, within the 
meaning of this title, is mining by means 
of the application of water, under pres¬ 
sure, through a nozzle, against a nat¬ 
ural bank. 

(In effect sixty days from March 24, 
1893.) 


SUMMARY SALES OP MINES AND 
MINING INTERESTS. 

Mines may be sold how. 

See, 1529. When it appears from the in¬ 
ventory of the estate of any decedent 
that his estate consists in whole or in 
part of mines, or interests in mines, such 
mines of interests may be sold under or¬ 
der of the Court having jurisdiction of 
the estate, as hereinafter provided. 
Petition for sale, who may file and what 

to contain. 

Sec. 1530. The executor or administra¬ 
tor, or any heir at law, or creditor of the 
estate, or any partner or member or any 
mining company, in which interests or 
shares are held or owned by the estate 
may file in the court a petition, in writ¬ 
ing, setting forth the general facts of the 
estate being then in due course of admin¬ 
istration, and particularly describing the 
mine, interest, or shares which it is de¬ 
sired to sell, and particularly the condi¬ 
tion and situation of the mines or mining 
interests, or of t'he mining company in 
which such interests or shares are held, 
and the ground upon ■which the sale is 
asked to be made. 

Order to show cause, how made and on 

what notice. 

Sec. 1531. Upon the presentation of such 
petition, the court, or a judge thereof, 
must make an order directing all persons 
interested to appear before such court, at 
a time and place specified, not less than 
four or more than ten weeks from the 
time of making such order, to show cause 
why an order should not be granted to 
the executor or administrator to sell such 
mine, mining interests, shares, or stocks, 
as are set forth in the petition and be¬ 
longing to the estate. A copy of the or¬ 
der to show cause must be personally 
served on all persons interested in the 
estate, at least ten days before the time 
appointed for hearing the petition, or 
published at least four successive weeks 
in such newspaper as such court or judge 
shall specify. If all persons interested in 
the estate signify in writing their assent 
to such sale, the notice may be dispensed 
with. 

Order of sale, when and how made. 

Sec. 1532. If, upon hearing the petition, 
it appears to the satisfaction of the court 


that it is to the interest of the estate 
that such mining property or interests 
of the estate should be sold, or that an 
immediate sale is neefessary in order to 
secure the just rights or interests of the 
mining partners, or tenants in common, 
such court must make an order authoriz¬ 
ing the executor or administrator to sell 
such mining interests, mines, or shares, 
as hereinafter provided. 

Further proceedings to conform to Ar¬ 
ticles II and IV. 

Sec. 1533. After the order of sale is 
made, all further proceedings for the sale 
of such mining property, and for the 
notice, report, and confirmation thereof, 
must be in conformity with the pro¬ 
visions of Article IV. of this chapter. 


CHAPTER IV. 

MINING PARTNERSHIPS. 

When a mining partnership exists. 

Sec. 2511. A mining partnership exists 
when two or more persons who own or 
acquire a mining claim for the purpose 
of working it and extracting the mineral 
therefrom actually engage in working the 
same. 

Express agreements not necessary to 
constitute. 

Sec. 2512. An express agreement to be¬ 
come partners or share the profits and 
losses of mining is not necessary to the 
formation or existence of a mining part¬ 
nership. The relation arises from the 
ownership of shares or interest in the 
mine, and working the same for the pur¬ 
pose of extracting the minerals there¬ 
from. 

Profits and losses, how shared. 

Sec. 2513. A member of a mining part¬ 
nership shares in the profits and losses 
thereof in the proportion which the in¬ 
terest or share he owns in the mine bears 
to the whole partnership capital or whole 
number of shares. 

Lien of partners. 

Sec. 2514. Each member of a mining 
partnership has a lien on the partnership 
property for the debts due the creditors 
thereof, and for money advanced by him 
for its use. This lien exists, notwith¬ 
standing there is an agreement among 
the partners that it must not. 

Mine, partnership property. 

Sec. 2515. The mining ground owned and 
worked by partners in mining, whether 
purchased with partnership funds or not, 
is partnership property. 

Partnership not dissolved by sale of in¬ 
terest. 

Sec. 2516. One of the partners in a 
mining partnership may convey his in¬ 
terest in the mine and business without 
dissolving the partnership. The purchas¬ 
er, from the date of his purchase, be¬ 
comes a member of the partnership. 

Purchaser takes subject to liens, un¬ 
less, etc. 

Sec. 2517. A purchaser of an interest 
in the mining ground of a mining part- 




45 


nership takes it subject to the liens ex¬ 
isting in favor of the partners for debts 
due all creditors thereof, or advances 
made for the benefit of the partnership, 
unless he purchased in good faith, for a 
valuable consideration without notice of 
such lien. 

Takes with notice of lien, when. 

Sec. 2518. A purchaser of the interest of 
a partner in a mine when the partnership 
is engaged in working it takes the no¬ 
tice of all liens resulting from the rela¬ 
tion of the partners to each other and 
to the creditors of the partnership. 
Contract in writing, when binding. 

Sec. 2519. No member of a mining part¬ 
nership or other agent or manager there¬ 
of can, by a contract in writing, bind 
the partnership,except by express au¬ 
thority derived from the members thereof. 
Owners of majority of shares govern. 

Sec. 2520. The decision of the members 
owning a majority of the shares or in¬ 
terest in a mining partnership binds it 
in the conduct of its business. 


MORTGAGE OF PERSONAL. PROP¬ 
ERTY. 

What personal property may be mort¬ 
gaged. . , 

Sec. 2955. Mortgages may be made 

upon: , ^ n 

1. Locomotives, engines, and other roll¬ 
ing stock of a railroad. 

2. Steamboat machinery, the machin¬ 
ery used by machinists, foundrymen, and 
mechanics. 

3. Steam engines and boilers. 

4. Mining machinery. 

5. Printing presses and material. 

6. Professional libraries. 

7. Instruments of a surveyor, physi¬ 
cian or dentist. 

8. Upholstery and furniture used in 
hotels, lodging or boarding houses, when 
mortgaged to secure the purchase mon¬ 
ey of the articles mortgaged. 

9. Growing crops. 

10. Vessels of more than five tuns bur¬ 
den. 

11. Instruments, negatives, furniture, 
and fixtures of a photograph gallery. 

12. The machinery, casks, pipes, tubes, 
and utensils used in the manufacture of 
wine, fruit brandy, and fruit syrup, or 
sugar. 


ATT’Y.-GEN. FITZGERALD’S 


Opinion of the New State Location Law 
of March 27, 1897. 

“I am in receipt of your favor of recent 
date, inclosing a clipping from the Los 
Angeles Times,relative to the new mining 
law enacted by our last legislature, and 
suggesting that there is a conflict be¬ 
tween such portions of that law as re¬ 
quire a certain amount of assessment 
work upon mines Ica’ted under the Fed¬ 


eral laws relative to the same subject, 
and in which you request my opinion as 
to whether or not such a conflict exists. 

“By sec. 2324 of the Revised Statutes of 
the United States, it is required that not 
less than one hundred dollars’ worth of 
labor ‘shall be performed or improve¬ 
ments made during each year’ upon each 
claim located after the 10th day of May, 

1872, and until a patent has been issued 
for such a claim. By the provisions of 
sec. 3 of ‘an act prescribing the manner 

of locating mining claims upon the pub¬ 
lic domain of the United States,’ etc., ap¬ 
proved March 27, 1897 (Stats., 1897, 214 et 
seq.,) it is provided, among other things, 
that ‘within sixty days from the date of 
discovery of a vein or lode, the discoverer 
must perform fifty dollars’ worth of la¬ 
bor in developing his discovery,’ and by 
sec. 5 of the same act it is provided that 
the performance of such labor shall be 
deemed a necessary act in completing 
such location, and a part thereof, and no 
part thereof shall inure to the benefit of 
any subsequent location.’ 

“It will thus be seen that there is an at¬ 
tempt on the part of the State to require 
at least fify dollars’ worth of the loca¬ 
tion work to be done within a time less 
than that prescribed for the doing of the 
location work by the Federal statute. In 
the case of the Original Co. of the W. & 

K., etc., vs. the Winthrop Mining Com¬ 
pany (60 Cal., 631-2,) the opinion of the 
Supreme Court of this state is as follows: 

“ ‘We think that he court erred in 
charging the jury that a locator of a 
mining claim must not only observe the 
law of congress, which requires 'that ‘ten 
dollars’ worth of labor shall be perform¬ 
ed or improvements made each year for 
each 'one hundred feet in 'length along the 
veins until a patent shall have been is¬ 
sued therefor,’ 'but also the local regula¬ 
tion of the miners ‘that work shall be 
done every sixty days in the claim.’ 

“ ‘According to the law of Congress, a 
locator would forfeit his claim If he'* did 
not each year perform work or make im¬ 
provements of the value of ten dollars for % 
each hundred feet of the vein. But by 
the local regulations he would forfeit it 
if he did not perform some work on it 
every sixty days. It seems to us that 
there is a clear conflict between the law 
and the regulations. And if there is, it 
is conceded that he law must prevail.’ 

“I am of the opinion that the restriction 
attempted by the state mining law of 1897, 
above quoted, is of a character similar to 
the restriction attempted by the local reg¬ 
ulations, which were held in the case 
cited to be in conflict with the Federal 
laws. 1 am therefore of the opinion that 
the requirements of our statute as to the 
time within which assessment work must 
be done conflicts with the provisions of 
the Revised Statutes of the United States 
a b o v e r ef erred to. ” 





46 


MINERAL PRODUCTION OF CALI¬ 
FORNIA ‘FOR 1896. 


THE NEW MINING LAW. 


Miners Have a Right to Adopt Non-Con¬ 
flicting Rules. 

A question having arisen as to the con¬ 
stitutionality of the law of March 27, 1897, 
regarding the manner of recording min¬ 
ing claims, the opinion of J. F. Cowdery, 
the well known San Francisco lawyer, 
was asked on the point. In reply he said: 

“Notwithstanding the act of March 27, 
1897, I think the miners of a district have 
a right to meet and adopt rules and regu¬ 
lations not in conflict with the State law 
and the laws of the United States. They 
may add to the State law a rule that no¬ 
tice of location shall state whether the 
lines of 'the location are parallel to or 
abut upon a claim already located; the 
character of the ledge, or in case of plac¬ 
ers whether the claim is in a river, on a 
flat, or on a seashore and the like. 

“As to the place where a notice is to be 

recorded, I think the miners of a district 
have no right to require a notice to be 
recorded at any place other than the 
County Recorder’s office nor by any other 
person than the County Recorder; and 
this because the United States mining law 
permits the miners of a district to make 
laws not in conflict with the laws of the 
State or Territory where the mine is sit¬ 
uated. The State by the acts of March 31, 
1891, S'tats., page 219, and the act of 1897, 
has directed the af oresaid no tices to be re¬ 
corded in the County Recorder’s office, 
and that direction is final. 

“If I lived in a mining district I would 
advocate the holding of a miners’ meeting 
and I would also advocate the passage of 
a resolution abolishing the office of dis¬ 
trict recorder and requiring all locations 
to conform to the California law of March 
27, 1897. 

“If this is not done a lodator may (in 
contested cases) have trouble In proving 
his location, or, If he applies for a United 
States patent for his mine, he may have 
trouble. 

“I think the legislature 'had a right to 
anticipate that miners would do substan¬ 
tially as above indicated and that dis¬ 
trict recorders would turn over their 
books of record to the County Recorder. 

“Section 74 of our penal code provides 
that every person who intrudes himself 
into a public office is guilty of a misde¬ 
meanor, and Section 76 says that ‘Every 
officer whose office is abolished by law, 
who withholds or detains from his suc¬ 
cessor the records of his office is guilty of 
a felony.’ 

“I am inclined to the opinion that the 
office of recorder for a mining district 
was abolished by the act of 1897, and that 
a recorder under the old law will be liable 
if he refuses to obey the new.” 


Condensed From Bulletin No. 12 of the 
State Mining Bureau—Gold and Sil¬ 
ver, &c., by Counties. 

Alameda, 318 tons manganese, value, 
$3415; Alpine, gold, $400; Amador, gold, 
$1,523,351; silver, $3,767; copper, $3000; coal, 
$29,662; marble, $5415; pottery, $27,825. 
Butte—Gold, $749,316; silver, $5389. Cala¬ 
veras—Gold, $1,546,398; silver, $500; copper, 
$8990. Colusa—Quicksilver, $2054. Contra 
Costa—Coal, $118,709. Del Norte—Gold, 
$24,150. Ei Dorado—Gold, $812,289; gypsum, 
$400; petroleum, $56,750. Humboldt—Gold, 
$65,092; rubble, $233,454. Inyo-^Gold, $238,- 
507; silver, $108,619; lead, $36,600; borax, 
$24,900; soda, $65,000; marble, $24,000. Kern 
—Gold, $590,866; silver, $34,649; antimony, 
$2250; asphaltum, $44,680; petroleum, $235. 
Lake—Quicksilver, $2,321,484. Lassen- 
Gold, $40,300. Los Angeles—Gold, $35,468; 
gypsum, $9180; petroleum, $812,800; serpen¬ 
tine, $6000. Madera—Gold, $104,339; silver, 
$1240. Mariposa—Gold, $335,637; silver, $180. 
Merced—Gold, $1250. ‘Mono—Gold, $451,553; 
silver, $82,283; lead, $2205; onyx, $24,000. 
Napa—Quicksilver, $403,031; magnesite, 
$11,000. Nevada—Gold, $2,380,756; silver, 
$8584; copper, $2820. Placer—Gold, $1,674,844; 
silver, $6690. Plumas—Gold, $462,526; silver, 
$83. Riverside-Gold, $262,800; silver, $13,- 
450; coal, $9964; salt, $8634. Sacramento- 
Gold, $133,050. San Benito—Quicksilver, 
$46,725; antimony, $70; gypsum, $3000. San 
Bernardino—Gold, $96,722; silver, $130,714; 
borax, $650,500; salt, $15,000; marble, $3000. 
San Diego—Gold, $560,578; silver, $40; salt, 
$4S00. San Joaquin—Natural gas, $85,157. 

San Luis Obispo^Gold, $3000; chrome, 
$2000; quicksilver, $3400; bituminous rock, 
$109,536. San Mateo—Petroleum, $1250. 
Santa Barbara—Gold, $8592; platinum, $44; 
asphaltum, $317,910; petroleum, $35,813. 
Santa Clara—Quicksilver, $211,570; natural 
gas, $1300; petroleum, $1145. Santa Cruz— 
Bituminous rock, $109,536. Shasta—Gold, 
$599,209; silver, . $24,233; copper, $184,708. 
Sierra—Gold, 786,174; silver, $423. Siskiyou- 
Gold, $1,091,264; silver, $652. Sonoma— 
Quicksilver, $37,150. Stanislaus—Gold, 
$16,635. Telhama—Chrome, $475. Trinity- 
Gold, $1,296,330; quicksilver, $139,035. Tuo¬ 
lumne-Gold, $1,070,141; silver, $328. Tu¬ 
lare-Gold, $20,092. Ventura—Sandstone, 
$20,000. Yuba-Gold, $171,687. 

Totals—Gold, $17,181,562; silver, $422,463; 
quicksilver, $1,075,449; copper, $199,518; lead, 
$38,805; antimony, $2320; chrome, $7775; 
manganese, $3415; platinum, $944. 




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Including the Attorney General's Opinion on the New Location Law , 
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